New advanced road safety measures will be implemented to reduce fatalities and assist police in curbing crime across the Cape in the coming months.
These new measures will include an interception unit that will respond to potentially high-risk incidents on the road. A new highway patrol unit will be introduced in place of an improved traffic service, and will assist in dealing with issues of crime along with acting as a public transport inspectorate. Essentially, this means that the unit will also act as public transport enforcement.
The plans will form part of a provincial traffic restructuring effort that will also ensure the service responds to challenges in improving public transport, as well as addressing the increasing levels of crime while improving road safety.
A transport hub is also in the pipeline. “This will provide decision makers with better data and integrated information, enable real-time monitoring of road traffic, public transport and crime as well as enable the immediate deployment of law enforcement to revolutionise crime fighting,” Western Cape Provincial Minister of Transport and Public Works, Bonginkosi Madikizela, said.
According to Madikizela, these efforts are an attempt to ensure that the department is not only able to respond to fatalities, but also potentially stop them before they take place. The department may also be leveraging technology to detect and respond to crime incidents in real time.
He also added that the teams would respond to any incident at any time, and that the law would come down much harder on those who drink and drive.
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