Comments on: Traffic offenders going to jail

By: What support for Metro bullies equates to

What support for Metro bullies equates to — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:23:00 +0000

[...] Haralambous expressed a view I have heard expressed a couple times about the recent arrests by the Metro police for minor [...]

By: gecko

gecko — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:57:10 +0000

“This is brilliant. I am all for it”…

You have obviously never spent a day in a Police jail cell…
You are locked up with criminals who could have been arrested for anything ranging from public drunkenness to Rapists and murderers. Food is virtually non existent. You are very lucky if they will even allow you to make a phone call within a couple of hours of your arrest. You are screamed and shouted at and told you are a piece of sh**t by the police. Don’t bother to try and even ask them anything. This will lead to even further abuse. The cells are filthy and infested with lice. You will be very lucky if you have any running water in the cell, and by in a luxury palace if you actually have a toilet that flushes. Usually it is clogged, stinks like hell with and you would not want to go near it. You may suffer abuse or assault from fellow prisoners. The police don’t care. You are a criminal. Innocent or guilty. That is the way you are treated.

Bearing in mind the above…
Are you still “all for it” if you happened to take a wrong turn somewhere on the road or exceeded the speed limit?

This is totally ridiculous and an abuse of our basic human rights.

By: Sjefke

Sjefke — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:59:25 +0000

People get frustrated by police-actions like this, because they feel more pressing actions are not taken – and unless you’re Mr. Nitwit himself, you know what actions people are referring to.
But then, police are going ‘safe’:
1) Motorists usually don’t shoot to kill;
2) Motorists usually don’t need forceful action (because as a cop, you would land in jail – ‘use of excessive force’, thanks to human rights lawyers and biased judges);
3) Tickets bring in money for the government – so, the cops get a ‘target’ – to subsidise themselves, so to speak.

Just to give you an idea: in Holland driving 4 km too fast, after corrections, costs you R 500,00 – even after midnight, when the roads are empty.
Besides that, ticket-income is budgeted on a yearly basis, so they plan how many tickets should be processed – and they do it now completely automated: video cameras read your licence plate, send it to central computer which prints the ticket, so you have it in the mail the next day – no human processing.
The same is implemented in SA – the number of cameras keeps increasing.
Sorry, but there will be no ripple-effect: motorists just become the new cash cow – except for the ones in unlicenced get-away cars, of course…

By: John Haralambous

John Haralambous — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:02:12 +0000

I agree that we need to praise the Metro police for their action, however for us to take the statement shut up and drive is a bit close minded. we as the public have a right to not only congratulate the Metro police but also to voice our opinions and express matters that concern our safety. Equality needs to be shown to all offenders from the “fat cats” in the Mercs to the taxi drivers. Currently this is not happening and for us to just “shut up and drive” will only compound the matter. I say speak up and let our opinions be heard. As long as we do not make the matters worse on the roads we have a right to speak out.