LETTER: Where is the EMPD when you really need them?
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“Point Me in the Right Direction”, Goedeburg, writes:
The other day travelling home there was immense traffic congestion at the intersection of Elizabeth and Atlas roads. It was load-shedding but the traffic lights at this intersection are often not working. So I’m not sure whether load-shedding was to blame.
A few things:
1. A bus marked Gauteng traffic police filled with staff was parked across the road on the sidewalk and some of them jumped in to direct traffic in what would appear to have been a training exercise for the others on the bus, who got out of the vehicle and stood and watched. I’m sure motorists were pleased, but my question is does Gauteng traffic police help the EMPD with points duty? This was the first time I’ve seen them in Boksburg/Benoni. This bus seemed to be full of new recruits.
• How many points duty officers do the EMPD have?
• Do point duty officers have separate duties from patrol officers or is this a function patrol officers also perform and are trained in?
• How often are new recruits enlisted?
• How long is their training before they are deployed?
• How does the EMPD determine the locations they are deployed to and when?
• Why do we not see point duty officers at busy intersections when it is load-shedding, especially during peak hours?
Some examples are Atlas and Elizabeth roads, Atlas and Mercury Street, Atlas and the N12 and Atlas and North Rand, North Rand and Rondebult, North Rand and Rietfontein, Rondebult and Ravenswood where there is complete chaos with traffic backed up for miles in morning and afternoon load-shedding.
2. When I got through the intersection of Elizabeth and Atlas, I turned left into Brentwood Park Road and there, just a few metres down, were at least three EMPD officers pulling motorists off at random.
Why? This speaks to my point above about whether patrol officers do point duty because it seemed bizarre to be pulling people off on a small side road. These motorists have just sat in traffic chaos due to traffic lights being out. The EMPD should have been at the intersection to alleviate congestion.
I am sure you can appreciate that nobody was impressed to suddenly find three EMPD officers around a corner pulling people off randomly when they were so desperately needed at the still-heavily congested intersection.
It would be far better PR for the EMPD to be seen directing traffic where traffic lights are out than to be pouncing on unsuspecting motorists during peak hour when everyone just wants to get home.
3. Another favoured spot for the EMPD to set up camp is near the four-way stop on the corner of Caravelle Street and Frelon Road, Impala Park. They pull people over for not stopping at the stop signs. While we can all appreciate this is a violation of the traffic laws, how are these hotspots identified? Has this four-way stop seen many fatal accidents? Again, motorists would much rather see the EMPD directing traffic at congested intersections than fining motorists in quiet backstreets all afternoon.
Editor’s note:
EMPD spokesperson Chief Superintendent Kelebogile Thepa responds:
The function of performing point duty is included in the training of metro police officers and traffic wardens. The council attempts to appoint 300 to 400 metro police officers every three years, or earlier.
Their training is three years. Determining locations where points people are deployed is dependent on the seriousness of activity in and around the point, the impact it has on the free flow of traffic and the previous consequential history of this point if not manned. The deployment of officers is done according to the priority of that day and could be that only one or two points will be covered.
For Rietfontein and North Rand roads, the deployment of pointsmen at these spots alone will cause what we call a “bottleneck” at other points and will not result in the free flow of traffic.
Officers “pulling motorists off at random” could have been involved in other law enforcement functions, such as speed law enforcement on that specific day. It cannot be right that our policing must come to a standstill because all the officers are doing traffic control. T
he opinion is noted and the EMPD shall continue in its quest to fight lawlessness and assist with traffic flow issues as and when the need arises.
What we must make clear is that whether it is peak hour traffic or not, the laws of the road must be respected at all times.
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