Cape Town: With 37 new highway patrol fleet vehicles equipped with technology to monitor habitual offenders, it will be all hands on deck to ensure appropriate driving behaviour on the province’s roadways this holiday season.
Approximately 132 deaths were reported over the 2020 holiday season.
The traffic department will have additional manpower this year, thanks to the graduation of 86 Gene Louw Traffic College student traffic police on Monday during the Western Cape Department of Transport’s festive season safety launch for 20201/2022.
The officers will be stationed at traffic control points throughout the province, notably in Knysna, Beaufort West, and Vredendal, among others.
Transport MEC Daylin Mitchell congratulated the trainees and said he was looking forward to their contributions, noting that 12 of them had a cumulative average of more than 75 percent.
Jacqui Gooch, the department’s head, complimented the cops for their desire to help the people.
“The students will be joining a large family of approximately 2 000 people who are dedicated to helping communities live dignified lives.” “It’s not only about putting additional troops on the ground; it’s also about using technology, systems, and intelligence,” Gooch added.
According to Mitchell, inter-provincial operations, which will be carried out in collaboration with the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape, as well as municipalities, will be part of the tactical and operational strategy to maintain operational uniformity between provinces.
“The system is capable of establishing a record of public transportation drivers that we can track with crucial data such as departures and arrival locations, driving times, speed profiling, and vehicle tracking using hand-held devices and other available technology.” “On the N1 Touwsriver, as well as the N2 Albertinia and Petroport, we will be adding more tiredness awareness operations,” Mictchell added.
He claimed that using vehicle technology and “average speed over distance” sites, they were able to determine the extent of the top 500 habitual offenders who use the road network, who were divided into a number of categories, including avanza long-distance travel, unlicensed motor vehicles, and speeding offences.
“Officers at all traffic centres have been instructed on this strategy to ensure that they react correctly when stopping and approaching any of these 500 repeat offenders,” Mitchell added.