"It is difficult to get youngsters out of their cars as it represents freedom. With limited road capacity we are pinning our hopes on the Go George public transport model to reduce the traffic on our congested roads. We will be watching the launch of the project very keenly."
Merrington told the delegates at the quarterly meeting of the forum, held in George last week, that certain traffic officials in the Western Cape feel that the 'softer side' of law enforcement will play a far greater role in reducing the carnage on the roads in the future.
The strict implementation of the 'admin mark' will force reckless drivers to conform to the rules as they are now being penalised for more than just moving violations.
"We have rationalised our records nationally to ensure uniformity in the registration of all vehicles and drivers licences. We are on the cusp of implementing strict control - by pressing a button all the drivers' and the vehicles' details and outstanding warrants are available to the traffic officials. Initially drivers adapted to the system and found loopholes. These have now been closed down."
This year's Easter Road Safety campaign, which started in the beginning of March and will run until the end of May, is already bearing positive results as the traffic departments, especially in the Western Cape, are focusing increasingly on the 'softer side' of road safety.
The December holiday season was a wake-up call for motorists with outstanding traffic fines as they had to pay them at the roadblock before they could continue their journey.
The traffic departments concentrated heavily on the total oversight of all aspects of public transport. Law enforcement officers were assigned to every point where passengers could catch buses or taxis.
"Here we did a short roadworthy test, which is completely different to the full roadworthy inspection, and issued the vehicle with a sticker that contained the details of the route, time departed and the driver details. As the journey progressed, law enforcement officers scrutinised the sticker at various points and could ascertain whether the driver had been speeding and how long he had been behind the wheel of the vehicle."
For the third consecutive year the December accident rate for the Garden Route has declined.
Front, from left: Melvin Merrington (chairman), Councillor Iona Kritzinger and Nicolaas Michaels (deputy chairman). Back, from left: Adneshel Voss (Hessequa), Brian Phillips (province), Saul Jacobs (Theewaterskloof), Farryl Payne (training college), Rudi Frazer (Overstrand), Mark Green (George), Pat Curren (province), Shaun Swartz (Worcester) and Richard Meyer (Knysna). Photo: Myron Rabinowitz
ARTICLE: MYRON RABINOWITZ, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
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