The Automobile Association (AA) voiced concerns around blue light brigades and the threat aggressive VIP convoys pose to motorists.
“The vicious assault on three drivers on the N1 highway in Fourways, Johannesburg in 2023 is a good example of how ‘protection officers’ in the motorcades respond to others. The message from this official personnel is that their passengers are more important than other road users and that the public must simply yield or face personal attack,” the organisation noted.
The AA said repeated calls for proper oversight of the VIP unit’s operations have fallen on deaf ears.
"The unit’s members continue to act with impunity, often considering other road users a menace instead of, rightfully, citizens they need to protect and serve," it said. “We receive many complaints from our members and the public about how these motorcades force them off the road and barge their way through heavy traffic – especially during peak traffic hours in the morning and afternoon".
According to the AA, there is ongoing anecdotal evidence that occupants of motorcades violently gesticulate and show their firearms at other motorists to intimidate them and that they are generally belligerent on the road.
“Whatever politician is being transported in these motorcades must make it clear that they expect the highest levels of professional and ethical behaviour from their support staff. Allowing these officers to act the way they do sends a message to the public that they are above the law, which they are not,” the AA commented.
Section 58(3) of the National Road Traffic Act (NRTA) permits drivers of emergency vehicles such as traffic officers and duly authorised drivers, as well as a “person appointed in terms of the South African Police Service Act who drives a vehicle in the carrying out of his or her duties” to disregard the directions of a road traffic sign displayed in the prescribed manner.
Regulation 176 of the NRTA further states that drivers on the road are supposed to give an absolute right of way to a vehicle sounding a device or bell or displaying an identification lamp.
Although the AA acknowledged the relevant law, it contended that any driver who drives recklessly or is careless about the safety of other users on the road should be held liable for gross negligence where they pose a threat to property or another person whether they are driving a politician, delegate, VIP, or a car fitted with a blue light, just like any other road user.
"Driving recklessly so a principal can be on time for a meeting does not constitute an emergency for the rest of the motoring public and it is shameful to think or act otherwise,” the organisation said.
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