City Traffic Services offers free vehicle safety checks

The City’s Traffic Services division is intensifying its road safety projects and traffic enforcement activities to ensure road traffic safety during the school holiday period and Easter weekend.

Road safety can be ensured by driving carefully and ensuring that vehicles are in a roadworthy condition. To assist motorists in this regard, Traffic Services is offering free vehicle safety checks at Gallows Hill Traffic Department, Bellville, Kuils River, Hillstar, Brackenfell, Goodwood and Durbanville from 10:00 to 14:00 until 17 April 2009.

“The safety checks are not equal to a roadworthy certification. A percentage of road accidents are due to vehicle defects. Please make sure that regular checks, specifically the tyres and braking mechanisms, are completed before taking on long distance travelling” says Chief Inspector Merle Lourens, media spokesperson for Cape Town Traffic Services.

“I appeal to motorists and pedestrians to be more vigilant and at all times to be aware of their surroundings during this period of increased pedestrian and vehicular activity on our roads. Using your cellphone while driving results in a lack of concentration, which impairs your judgement and contributes to road accidents,” says Lourens.

To boost road safety further, lectures about the subject have been given at schools in the Khayelitsha and Bonteheuwel areas, reaching some 4 000 children. Roadblocks concentrating on drunk driving, speeding and other traffic offences were also held last week.
“Long-distance bus and taxi fitness checks will be undertaken at the Joe Gqabi interchange in Phillipi” says Lourens. “Once the bus or taxi has undergone a successful roadworthy test, colour coded stickers, e.g. green for Wednesday and red for Thursday, with the registration number, number of passengers and departure time will be recorded and entered into a database. If that same bus or taxi is observed elsewhere in the province, e.g. Beaufort West or Mossel Bay, the arrival time is noted and cross-checked with the database. This practise will assist in managing driver fatigue and passenger overloads.”

If public transport vehicles are stopped anywhere along the major routes and are found to be in order, but do not have the colour coded disc, one will be issued to the driver.

Sourced via capetown.gov.za