The City of Johannesburg has discouraged unauthorised individuals from manning intersections where robots aren't working, saying that it won't be held liable should an accident occur.
Sowetan posed the following questions to the Joburg Metro Police Department spokesperson Xolani Fihla about the scourge of illegal traffic controllers:
Does the City of Joburg have enough traffic cops to man busy intersections when traffic lights are not working?
The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) acting chief of police Thulani Khanyile has issued a directive that all traffic officers must take up point duty during peak hour periods between 6am-9am and 3pm-6pm.
JMPD officers have various responsibilities ranging from crime prevention, bylaws enforcement, attending to protests, life-threatening and non-life-threatening emergencies within the city. Officers cannot be at every corner and every intersection, so with the assistance of Traffic Free Flow sponsored by Outsurance main arterials, heavy congested and major routes have been prioritised.
What is the city’s position with regards to unauthorised men who perform as traffic controllers, a job meant for traffic officers? Is the city against it, supports it or is indifferent?
We discourage untrained and unauthorised individuals from controlling traffic, we also discourage motorists from giving homeless people money as an incentive for controlling traffic. This endangers the lives of the homeless individuals as they may be hit by vehicles. We urge motorists to always adhere to the rules of the road, and where there are no points people, please treat those intersections as compulsory stops.
Is the city not concerned about the growing trend of informal traffic controllers, especially in the event that they cause accidents? Can the city be liable for such accidents?
The city will not be liable because as a motorist you are under no legal duty to stop when traffic is controlled by an untrained, unauthorised or homeless person. As a motorist you need to adhere to the rules of the road, and when traffic lights are not working, the affected intersection must be treated as a compulsory stop.
The only time the city can be liable is if the person controlling traffic has been authorised by the city, or when officers see that there is a homeless person controlling traffic and they fail to remove that person.
JMPD has alluded that these informal traffic controllers are behind the vandalising of robots in order to make money as points men. Does the city have evidence for making such allegations?
The JMPD has a unit within the bylaws management unit called the infrastructure protection unit, which deals specifically with uninterruptible power supply boxes for traffic lights, and they find that in some of the intersections where these boxes have been vandalised or damaged, those are the intersections where you find homeless people controlling traffic.
Officers have also been tasked to monitor these areas and intersections outside the peak hours, as we've received numerous complaints regarding homeless people controlling traffic.
We encourage members of the public to report any issues pertaining to traffic lights‚ cable theft‚ flooding‚ vandalism‚ accidents‚ broken down vehicles, traffic violations, areas where traffic is gridlocked and where homeless people are controlling traffic, by calling the hotline on 080-872-3342, the city's emergency number (011) 375-5911 or WhatsApp 081-410-6338.
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