Negligence and recklessness on rural Transkei roads will soon be a thing of the past as traffic law enforcement agencies have recently installed state-of-the-art cameras to catch those who break the law.
The cameras are on the N2 linking Mthatha to big cities like Durban and East London. All road users travelling on this road will be monitored 24/7.
Mthatha is the economic hub of the Transkei area in the Eastern Cape, with hundreds of people from surrounding small towns like Ngqeleni, Libode, Port St Johns and Lusikisiki amongst others coming to the city for their shopping.
Around this time, Mthatha is usually a hive of activity, leading to congestion especially on the N2 road. This is also the time when most accidents take place due to alleged recklessness and negligence.
But traffic officers in Mthatha say the cameras will make it easier for them to catch those who disobey the rules of the road.
Head of Public Safety in the King Sabatha Dalindyebo Municipality, Tshepo Machaea, believes the cameras will reduce the number of crashes.
“Cameras are reducing the need for a man power because you just take information in the morning, you download it and then the camera continues working. There are more people that are caught than when it is being done as a physical enforcement by officers and also that will deter the common habit of our drivers where they actually ignore speed signs and everything. So at this stage we are positive that people already they’ve shown, after we’ve done the public participation, then we saw that they started driving according to the speed limit. So that on its own is helping us”.
Motorists are also optimistic about the installation of the cameras.
“The cameras will catch every single driver who is breaking the rules of the road. They know that there are cameras and they can’t even deny it when they get caught,” says a motorist.
“We’d be very pleased if there’d be traffic officers in our intersections and traffic circles. We are always stuck because there are very few traffic officers,” adds another motorist.
Commuters are also hoping the devices will play a significant role in curbing road carnage.
“We were travelling from Qumbu and we arrived safely in Mthatha, the driver was very careful on the road,” says a commuter.
“This is a very good idea because if they misbehave when driving they will be caught by the cameras,” adds another commuter.
Last year, the death toll between the 1st and the 24th of December stood at 125, while this year it’s 111. Traffic officers have urged motorists and pedestrians to be extra careful.
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