Cape Town's traffic by-law reform looks to empower officers to impound vehicles

THE City's updated traffic bylaw is out for public participation from today, in the first major review of the legislation in 15 years.

- MANDILAKHE TSHWETE

Safety and Security Mayco member JP Smith said the original bylaw was adopted in 2011, and this is the first significant overhaul since then.

“Work on the amendments began in 2019 through the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security, with some provisions already gazetted in 2022.

“The review specifically looks at empowering officers to impound vehicles in instances of reckless or dangerous driving. The bylaw is really an attempt to create meaningful behaviour change on our roads,” Smith said. He noted that despite the high number of fines issued in Cape Town, driver behaviour has not improved. “In March, April, May, June, and July, we issued between 181 000 and 344 000 fines per month. In August, 206 000 fines were issued. Over the past six months, that comes to 1 386 247 fines, valued at about R960 million,’ said Smith.

“Cape Town has a higher fine payment rate than the rest of the country, but fines alone don't seem to be changing driver behaviour”