I've been wondering about this point system the government are planning to introduce in Pretoria on the 1st and rest of the country later on.
You get 12 points each year and each time you commit a traffic offence, points will be deducted, along with a fine. As you can imagine, once you lose all 12 points, good by licence.
Therein, lays my problem with the system. We have so many road users today who don't have licences anyway, so what good will this point system do anyway?
When I was in the UK a year years back, the system there worked very well as it was not really possible to get away with driving without a licence there. here, it seems as that isn't an issue.
"Let’s just focus on making more profit on a new scheme, (I.E point system) then actually fixing issues, like no licence drivers. "
I thought the same thing. The system works in theory, but as you say, there is such poor enforcement of laws instituted that it won't make much difference anyway.
yeah i dont think having your license revoked will stop people from driving. I mean like you said the amount of people who do it now is insane.
for me the biggest issue is damn taxi's and bus drivers, sometimes even truck drivers that drive seriously recklessly. They should tighten up on regulating and enforcing laws in those classes.
To be honest, I'm more concerned about other drivers. After you've had your license for about three days you come to expect reckless driving from truck and taxi drivers, and so you're automatically on high alert when you see such a vehicle. (BMW and 4x4 drivers can probably be placed in the same category.) It's the other drivers that sometimes catch you off guard.
you see, i'm all in favour of a points system, but in the other direction.
we all get issued weapons of mass destruction, and then every time you 'remove' a road risk, you earn points:
1) Fast Lane Hog - Introducing collision risk where there was none - 50 points
2) Hair Adjustors - Introducing collision risk for the sake of the perfect hairdo - 60 points
3) 4-Way Stop Hoppers - Introducing collision risk in the mistaken belief they're special - 80 points
4)...
pretty soon, we'd have the safest roads in the world, and as a bonus you could trade in your points for useless junk... winner!
Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so - Bertrand Russel
ok good point. you automatically assume a taxi is gonna jump a red light 3 seconds before it changes green only to stop in the middle of the road at the next corner. just goes to show how lazy the law is to enforce it on them seeing that it is in plain sight.
im not sure if they do this, but with the points system you should serve community service once your license is revoked...public humiliation is not nice no matter who you are.
Stuart wrote:To be honest, I'm more concerned about other drivers. After you've had your license for about three days you come to expect reckless driving from truck and taxi drivers, and so you're automatically on high alert when you see such a vehicle. (BMW and 4x4 drivers can probably be placed in the same category.) It's the other drivers that sometimes catch you off guard.
Nothing worse than some moron in a 4x4 who thinks he owns the road just because he has a bullbar. Does not play well with two wheelers.
Other than that, as long as you can buy your way out of trouble, this will never work...
You miss the point. The unlicenced people get fined or jailed, and that depends on them getting caught. Same as the old system.
you'll never fix the licencing department problems. Until the people in the departments learn the basic courtesy of hello, how are you, how may i help you, thank you and good bye, there is not a hope in hell of anything else improving. They simply don't give a damn.
yeah...the amount of times i heard of mates being pulled over and the traffic officer merely says "eish im hungry bru"...when no offence was committed is shocking...
the points system is a cover up, so people get afraid of losing their license, so when a officer approaches them, offers them a easy way out, they go for it to save the points.
I have heard a LOT of talk lately of traffic officers accepting bribes. I have no doubt whatsoever that it happens, but am I the only one who has never been asked for a free lunch by the Metro Police? I must live a very sheltered life.
any system based on monetary punishment is flawed... the other approach would be to penalise the license.. not take it away, (thoroughly pointless in most cases), but make the renewal more expensive...
"I'm here to renew my license"
"Excellent. Let's see now... that's R200 for the license and... oh, seven points at R500 each.. .that brings your total to... R3700"
still leaves the market open for muck-dwelling dingbats to illicit bribes from offenders...
Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so - Bertrand Russel
rustypup wrote:any system based on monetary punishment is flawed... the other approach would be to penalise the license.. not take it away, (thoroughly pointless in most cases), but make the renewal more expensive...
"I'm here to renew my license"
"Excellent. Let's see now... that's R200 for the license and... oh, seven points at R500 each.. .that brings your total to... R3700"
still leaves the market open for muck-dwelling dingbats to illicit bribes from offenders...
and then the licencing department would get held up at gunpoint because they still persist in cash only.
rustypup wrote:any system based on monetary punishment is flawed... the other approach would be to penalise the license.. not take it away, (thoroughly pointless in most cases), but make the renewal more expensive...
"I'm here to renew my license"
"Excellent. Let's see now... that's R200 for the license and... oh, seven points at R500 each.. .that brings your total to... R3700"
still leaves the market open for muck-dwelling dingbats to illicit bribes from offenders...
and then the licencing department would get held up at gunpoint because they still persist in cash only.
Actually no. My assessment arrived the other day and they are willing to accept bank guaranteed cheques.
MOOD - Thirsty
A surprising amount of modern pseudoscience is coming out of the environmental sector. Perhaps it should not be so surprising given that environmentalism is political rather than scientific.
Timothy Casey
Well - I hope I don't end up walking to work. I am very good with all the rules of the road - but I drive too fast. It is really hard obeying the speed limit - but I am trying.
Tribble wrote:Well - I hope I don't end up walking to work. I am very good with all the rules of the road - but I drive too fast. It is really hard obeying the speed limit - but I am trying.
Even as a Learner, I hate the speed limit
doo_much wrote:
Prime wrote:
rustypup wrote:any system based on monetary punishment is flawed... the other approach would be to penalise the license.. not take it away, (thoroughly pointless in most cases), but make the renewal more expensive...
"I'm here to renew my license"
"Excellent. Let's see now... that's R200 for the license and... oh, seven points at R500 each.. .that brings your total to... R3700"
still leaves the market open for muck-dwelling dingbats to illicit bribes from offenders...
and then the licencing department would get held up at gunpoint because they still persist in cash only.
Actually no. My assessment arrived the other day and they are willing to accept bank guaranteed cheques.
That will be a first. you invariably have to have cash with because the debit card machines don't work and Enatis is down and blah blah we are fulll of crap blah blah and we couldn't give a $%$^ that you have to take time off work blah blah blah
There will always be bribery as long as salaries are small, and honest people cannot afford to apply for jobs - any job because of the salary and the stigma.
However, knowing a little about eNatis, its not a real pleasure to work with... not when bandwidth are slow, Escum and Telcum are often down, and people are trained to do the little infront of them instead of thinking. The system in itself also allow only for a certain amount of driving tests being booked, and that means that you have to wait even longer than before. Sometimes automating any system creates more problems than solving it, and if you are the person behind the counter, by the time it gets to 11 o'clock, and every person you dealt with complained, and made it out as if all the problems they are experiencing is your fault,.... it takes a very special person to still be polite - its like the dog who is used to his master kicking him...and any foot he sees coming he expects the same. (Talking from experience, having served people all my life).
There is a move in government (well particularly provincial, and in my province) to stamp out such things, and Batho Pele is being pushed - it is slowly spreading, and with our KZN traffic people starting to concentrate on the road worthy of vehicles... well, the light at the tunnel might only be a small train.
Thus said, knowing from my own working experience, and visiting my previous place of employment on Friday, we looked at photographs where a staff member took photos of a group of traffic wardens chatting for more than an hour, instead of patrolling the village. On the other hand, I know the way the burghers of the town talk when said wardens do their job, and Mr/s Burgher gets a ticket for not following the law. ITs a vicious circle, and if there is anyone here who does not break any road laws... well, feel free to complain.
"Integrity" and "integer" both contain a Latin root meaning "whole; complete." The root sense, then, is that people may be said to be acting with integrity when their beliefs, words, and actions have a sense of unity or wholeness.
So rather than starting a new thread and thereby giving Sojourn more hissy-fit ammo, let me resurrect this one with a semi-on-topic question: Do SAPS officers have authority to issue fines for traffic violations? I'm not talking Metro Police; I'm talking about those guys who ride around with the Crime Stop number on the back of their vehicles.
