RAT writes:
When you read the papers and you see metro police officers caught taking bribes, one often wonders if it will ever stop.
The amount of revenue lost – only to end up in their pockets.
When you are pulled off by the metro police they now ask you to disembark from your vehicle. You are taken to the boot area of the metro police vehicle standing in the field.
You are asked over and over, “Do you know what the fine is going to be? It is a lot of money to pay.” Then you know the stage is set for you to offer them a bribe, sometimes as little as R10.
They know you might have a camera recording the bribe act, so this is why you are taken to one side. If you look at the system and try to eliminate the small areas where these bribes often occur, then you suddenly see what can be done to stop another hot spot bribe area.
One Saturday morning, several vehicles were pulled over by two female officers for not stopping at the stop street at the corner of Boomkruiper and Nuwejaarsvoël streets. I stopped and noticed a driver walking from the boot of the metro vehicle with only his driver’s licence in his hand.
The next one was on his way to the boot area. When I got to the traffic light at Ossewa and Zuurfontein roads, the one walking to the back of the metro car was right behind me.
I never knew that our metro cops took up short hand writing. So, how do we eliminate this hot spot? Can we ask the municipality to stick up a yield sign to the left at that stop street.
What happened to the old rule that you can yield to the left at stop streets? I think municipalities should encourage road users to rather report hot spots and then it is up to the heads of the department to come up with methods to eliminate these areas.
Can we ask the municipality to look at this one?
