It is a weak attempt to shift the focus away from her department’s consistent failure to ensure competency on our roads at the initial testing stage.
Sections 3(I) and 3(F) of the National Road Traffic Act deal with the powers and duties of traffic officers and inspectors of licences. While they have wide powers of inspection of documents and/or the vehicle in question, and may even instruct the driver of a vehicle to prove that his vehicle is roadworthy, the Act does not at any point empower the officer in question to retest a driver’s competency to operate said vehicle.
I will be writing to the Minister, asking the following questions:
What is the legal basis for this new proposed system? What will this plan entail? What are the penalties if a driver “fails” the retest? What criteria will be used to retest? And what further training will traffic officials have to undertake in this regard?
She should rather deal head-on with the systemic corruption in licensing offices and among traffic enforcement officers, the introduction of consistently visible and effective traffic policing, and a review of the current out-of-date licensing model.
In addition, a culture has been created where traffic law enforcement is seen only as a mere revenue generator and not a road safety mechanism. This needs to change.
Until the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) adheres to one of its core functions – collecting, collating and releasing accurate road statistics which can be used to develop strategies to reduce road deaths – the number of deaths on our roads will not be decisively addressed.
Manny de Freitas MP, DA Shadow Minister of Transport
* Letter shortened – Editor
