Violations on camera are inadmissible – Metro police
Metro police warned that traffic violations captured by motorists on video or photographs were inadmissible and thus not considered a criminal offence, unless a uniformed officer witnessed the violation.
This after dashboard camera footage emerged showing a motorist driving negligently on the M1 between Grayston and Marlboro drives in Johannesburg.
Metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said traffic offences, including negligent driving, were third-schedule offences, Sandton Chronicle reported.
Minnaar added that charges could also be filed if the violation was caught on an official police camera.
In the dash cam video, a silver Ford Figo is seen swerving through lanes and preventing the car behind it from passing on either side.
“The negligent driver was on his cellphone while he was driving, and he put down his phone and tried to run me off the road,” the motorist who took the video said.
Minnaar said that if negligent driving was a regular occurrence at a specific spot, metro police could be notified so that officers could be deployed to monitor that specific area.
In 2013, footage of a motorcyclist crashing into a vehicle while splitting lanes in Johannesburg was uploaded on to YouTube.
he Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) said like any road user, motorcyclists were required to follow the rules of the road, while calling for lane splitting to be banned.
Watch the footage of the motorist driving negligently on the M1 between Grayston and Marlboro drives in Johannesburg here.
Watch the motorcyclist crashing into a vehicle while splitting lanes in Johannesburg here.
– Caxton News Service
Read original story on sandtonchronicle.co.za
