Ministers and other VIPs can now get locked up for travelling in blue-light convoys.
|||National cabinet ministers and other VIPs now face jail time if they travel in blue-light brigades on the province’s roads – but the president, deputy president and visiting heads of state are exempt.
A groundbreaking regulation, which became law in the Western Cape this week, forbids VIPs from using blue lights or sirens when travelling, unless there is “an imminent threat to safety or life”.
Also exempt are police, firefighting and ambulance vehicles when performing official duties – including police vehicles which transport prisoners to and from court.
Penalties for not complying with the new law can include a fine or a jail sentence of no more than one year upon conviction.
PUBLIC MUST SPEAK UP
Transport MEC Robin Carlisle, who is behind the regulations, says road-users should report the misuse of blue lights, and has vowed that his office would investigate each reported case. To make the investigation easier, Carlisle has asked that reports include time and place, the number of vehicles in the convoy and at least one number plate.
Traffic officers and other law enforcement officials have also been instructed to report blue-light convoys, rather than pulling them over. Ordinary traffic officers may not be privy to the movements of the president’s convoy, as the information is classified.
Carlisle said the measure would promote road safety, adding that “being late for a meeting”, for instance, was not a justification for speeding, dangerous overtaking and skipping red robots.
“Such behaviour is an affront to law-abiding citizens and a risk to the public at large.”
HURDLES
The regulation was met with some opposition during the public participation process before it became law.
In July, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega asked for the draft regulation to be withdrawn. A letter from her office noted that police officers using any vehicle were legally allowed to use flashing blue lights while performing official duties.
“The use of a blue flashing light by police officials escorting relevant dignitaries or officials is recognised as a method used by the police service to make road-users aware that they must give way to an oncoming convoy escorted by members of the service,” the letter read.
Existing “provisions” prevented police vehicles from breaking traffic laws “unless their duties require this”.
Carlisle said the law affected only police officers escorting VIPs and did not contradict the section of the Road Traffic Act which allowed police, firefighting and ambulance vehicles to exceed the speed limit when performing official duties.
The Western Cape is the first province to have adopted the regulation.
Earlier this year, Western Cape Premier and DA national leader Helen Zille said the DA would table a similar private member’s bill in the National Assembly because it was expected to enjoy support nationally. Zille could not be reached yesterday to provide an update on this proposal.
A petition, which started on turnitaround.co.za in 2011, calls on the national minister of transport to ban blue-light brigades. It has nearly 46 649 signatures. -Cape Argus