Graffiti on N1

IceCreamMan · 2011-10-03T14:04:40+00:00

Anyone seen it. it tickles my funny bone big time.next time i go there i take a pic. there is normally a metro with a camera hiding behind the pillars , some bright lad took a tin of spray paint and sprayed the word asshole with arrows pointing to where the metro sits... i cackled like a school kid yesterday on my way home

Bob-Dubery

Firstly these are traffic cops - they have a limited jurisdiction.

I'd agree that there could be more done about moving violations, but there do seem to be steps towards that. The last couple of weeks I've been seeing police vehicles on the south end of Barry Hertzog pulling over people who jump red lights, cross barrier lines or change lanes without indicating. So that's a start.

But see my earlier post. Bad driving is now so common that they can't control all of it and be at the scene of every incident. Based on what I see going on on the roads on a daily basis (and not just from taxi drivers), we could take a load off of the police by sticking to limits, driving courteously (which includes giving way to pedestrians who have the lights in their favour) and generally obeying the law of the road.

Squonk

X-rated Bob wrote But see my earlier post. Bad driving is now so common that they can't control all of it and be at the scene of every incident. Based on what I see going on on the roads on a daily basis (and not just from taxi drivers), we could take a load off of the police by sticking to limits, driving courteously (which includes giving way to pedestrians who have the lights in their favour) and generally obeying the law of the road.

Unfortunately just doesn't happen, My point is that they are catching the people going 71 in a 60 zone which is not as dangerous as all the other infringements, As I said SPEED isn't the only problem. I know there are people who speed, but there are a huge amount more who disregard most of the traffic laws, and I think this is where the Metro Police need to be a bit creative and solve this problem.

guidothepimmp

lol.. what started as a laugh has developed into quite the debate.. roll on december.. looks like we need some holidays. relaxation.. sense of humour..

Bob-Dubery

Squonk wrote
X-rated Bob wrote But see my earlier post. Bad driving is now so common that they can't control all of it and be at the scene of every incident. Based on what I see going on on the roads on a daily basis (and not just from taxi drivers), we could take a load off of the police by sticking to limits, driving courteously (which includes giving way to pedestrians who have the lights in their favour) and generally obeying the law of the road.
Unfortunately just doesn't happen, My point is that they are catching the people going 71 in a 60 zone which is not as dangerous as all the other infringements, As I said SPEED isn't the only problem. I know there are people who speed, but there are a huge amount more who disregard most of the traffic laws, and I think this is where the Metro Police need to be a bit creative and solve this problem.

I agree with your general point but, as I said, I am seeing signs of them dealing with moving violations.

StephenG

Squonk wrote
X-rated Bob wrote But see my earlier post. Bad driving is now so common that they can't control all of it and be at the scene of every incident. Based on what I see going on on the roads on a daily basis (and not just from taxi drivers), we could take a load off of the police by sticking to limits, driving courteously (which includes giving way to pedestrians who have the lights in their favour) and generally obeying the law of the road.
Unfortunately just doesn't happen, My point is that they are catching the people going 71 in a 60 zone which is not as dangerous as all the other infringements, As I said SPEED isn't the only problem. I know there are people who speed, but there are a huge amount more who disregard most of the traffic laws, and I think this is where the Metro Police need to be a bit creative and solve this problem.

one of the other issues the traffic guys face in stopping the moving violations is the public safety and convenience in doing so...

yes, on some days in the same spots you will find cops trying to pull over moving violations, but many many times it actually poses more of a danger to everyone on the road if they had to try stop every moving violation, in particular if there is no realistic room to do so on the road..

speeding, in my mind, is FAR more dangerous than someone crossing lanes without indicating in slow traffic...

Squonk

StephenG wrote
speeding, in my mind, is FAR more dangerous than someone crossing lanes without indicating in slow traffic...

Try telling that to my mate who had his leg crushed on his way home (On his Bike) , when some wombat did the exact same(crossing lanes, no indicator) at 60km causing him a 18 week stay at home.

vic

X-rated Bob wrote
Norman86 wrote Speed traps arent law enforcing, they are cash cows!!!

Those "officers" should be doing something real with their time, like stopping REAL crimes!
A while back I got talking to a cop who was manning a speed trap in the area I recently moved out of. He told me that in that street the limit was 60 and even though their equipment was calibrated regularly they give you 10ks. So before they raise a fine you have got to be exceeding 70 in a 60 zone. That sort of goes against the cash cow argument.

He also told me that at over 120 they launch a pursuit vehicle and they have to launch that at least once every time they trap there - in a residential area, in the afternoon rush hour.

I asked him how I could get them to trap in my street, which was notorious for late night and early morning speeding. He said that they knew about what was going on there BUT that street wasn't seeing a lot of accidents and there wasn't much danger to pedestrians so although it would be easy pickings for them they didn't focus much attention on that street - another strike against the cash cow argument.

Finally he told me that in the last 10 years Jo'burg has more than doubled the number of traffic officers, but that the standard of driving is now so bad that they can't monitor all roads and so have to focus on the spots where the stats show there is a lot of trouble or about which they get a lot of complaints.

The cash cow argument could be valid....a member of the force (who's a member of our Club) admitted that their salaries are paid 100% from speed fines, most of which are within the 70-100 km/h range. I view this type of policing with suspicion but I guess it's a necessary evil

Bob-Dubery

vic wrote The cash cow argument could be valid....a member of the force (who's a member of our Club) admitted that their salaries are paid 100% from speed fines, most of which are within the 70-100 km/h range. I view this type of policing with suspicion but I guess it's a necessary evil

Well I can't speak for what goes on in a municipality at the other end of the country. However it seems a risky proposition to me. You'd think that all these guys would want to work for a guaranteed salary, not what amounts to a commission on speed trapping.

StephenG

Squonk wrote
StephenG wrote
speeding, in my mind, is FAR more dangerous than someone crossing lanes without indicating in slow traffic...
Try telling that to my mate who had his leg crushed on his way home (On his Bike) , when some wombat did the exact same(crossing lanes, no indicator) at 60km causing him a 18 week stay at home.

sure, got his number??? can he understand engliish since the accident?? I ask cause you say I should 'try" so i gather he has difficulty understanding things now, ?? or what ??

I got my foot crushed doing about 15km/h by a female wombat doing the same thing.. the only thing that saved me was the truck that she knocked me into, so i managed to keep the bike upright.. I just thank God no one was speeding at the time.

Bob-Dubery

vic wrote The cash cow argument could be valid....a member of the force (who's a member of our Club) admitted that their salaries are paid 100% from speed fines, most of which are within the 70-100 km/h range.

Well here's a way to really show the traffic cops what you think of them. Don't speed. Run a campaign on talk radio, start a web site, get tweeting an so on. Make November "no speeding month" and drive the entire municipal police force into insolvency.

That'll teach them a lesson they'll never forget.

StephenG

X-rated Bob wrote
vic wrote The cash cow argument could be valid....a member of the force (who's a member of our Club) admitted that their salaries are paid 100% from speed fines, most of which are within the 70-100 km/h range. I view this type of policing with suspicion but I guess it's a necessary evil
Well I can't speak for what goes on in a municipality at the other end of the country. However it seems a risky proposition to me. You'd think that all these guys would want to work for a guaranteed salary, not what amounts to a commission on speed trapping.

traffic police are funded via lcal government and municipalities.. they get given a budget to employ - for sake of argument - 20 traffic cops.....

then internet forums around the country are alight with people screaming not enough is being done to enforce the traffic laws.. so the traffic department uses the funds raised by fining speeding criminals to employ more than the 20 traffic cops the local minucipality is prepared to pay for...

i see nothing wrong with it... they still salaried, but the funds come from the fine revenue .

like schools employing more teachers from their own fund raising as government is only prepared to pay one salary per 45 pupils.. so your kids can attend school with - say 25 kids in a class , instead of 2-up in each desk.

vic

X-rated Bob wrote
vic wrote The cash cow argument could be valid....a member of the force (who's a member of our Club) admitted that their salaries are paid 100% from speed fines, most of which are within the 70-100 km/h range. I view this type of policing with suspicion but I guess it's a necessary evil
Well I can't speak for what goes on in a municipality at the other end of the country. However it seems a risky proposition to me. You'd think that all these guys would want to work for a guaranteed salary, not what amounts to a commission on speed trapping.

Of course they work for guaranteed salaries ( I hope !)...no commission AFAIK. It's just that the speeding public is actually "paying" their salaries, and (assisting in) paying for maintenance of their vechiles,buildings, etc. ?

Reinhard

I get fined for driving 133 km's/h on the N1, but the guy driving without headlights or with an overloaded vehicle just keeps going. Now they want to lower the speed limit even more, while the majority of vehicles involved in horrific crashes are people carriers or trucks who aren't allowed to drive above 100km/h anyway. If lowering the speed limit made roads safer, why are they trying to increase the speed limit in the UK to 130km/h. The biggest improvement would be removing unroadworthy POS vehicles from the road and confiscating/seriously fining overloaded vehicle.
Had to get that off my chest. I also think the graffiti is funny btw ?

vic

StephenG wrote
X-rated Bob wrote
vic wrote The cash cow argument could be valid....a member of the force (who's a member of our Club) admitted that their salaries are paid 100% from speed fines, most of which are within the 70-100 km/h range. I view this type of policing with suspicion but I guess it's a necessary evil
Well I can't speak for what goes on in a municipality at the other end of the country. However it seems a risky proposition to me. You'd think that all these guys would want to work for a guaranteed salary, not what amounts to a commission on speed trapping.

traffic police are funded via lcal government and municipalities.. they get given a budget to employ - for sake of argument - 20 traffic cops.....

then internet forums around the country are alight with people screaming not enough is being done to enforce the traffic laws.. so the traffic department uses the funds raised by fining speeding criminals to employ more than the 20 traffic cops the local minucipality is prepared to pay for...

i see nothing wrong with it... they still salaried, but the funds come from the fine revenue .like schools employing more teachers from their own fund raising as government is only prepared to pay one salary per 45 pupils.. so your kids can attend school with - say 25 kids in a class , instead of 2-up in each desk.

Ironically the speeding criminals are actually THE providers of key jobs in this country...LOL !

chris77

It always amazes me how folks hate spietkops. I've often flipped one the bird when I see them next to the road, for no apparent reason other than it feels good to do so. And the funny thing is I never even get tickets. I drive within the speed limits and am generally a cautious and alert motorist. So why don't I like 'em? Hell, I don't know.

Bob-Dubery

Reinhard wrote I get fined for driving 133 km's/h on the N1, but the guy driving without headlights or with an overloaded vehicle just keeps going. Now they want to lower the speed limit even more, while the majority of vehicles involved in horrific crashes are people carriers or trucks who aren't allowed to drive above 100km/h anyway. If lowering the speed limit made roads safer, why are they trying to increase the speed limit in the UK to 130km/h.

There's less to that than meets the eye. At present the speed limit in the UK is 70mph, but the cops have a policy of not bothering with anything under 80, so all they're doing is upping the limit to the point at which they actually start trapping. There are various groups engaging with the government to ensure that
a) You'll still get the 10mph leeway
or
b) The cops will continue to trap at 80

You can't please all the people all the time.

Squonk

we cant just have a Metro Police who are funded by our speeding fines, and their main purpose is to issue more speeding fines...

Something has to be done to stop all the total disregard for traffic laws and flow, It might be different in the rest of the country, but up here in Gauteng, driving is a nerve wracking exercise.

Driving down Empire yesterday at Campus Square, the traffic light was out(yet again) and the traffic law about treating a traffic light as a 4 way stop just did not happen and Road Rage reared it's ugly head again.

Why do we seem to forget about all the laws so soon after getting our licence... I just don't get it

Reinhard

Maybe because so many licences aren't obtained legally. They had another segment on Carte Blanche again this past weekend.

mity88

Just saw some of them on the N1...interesting...I wonder if its considered art?

Jack-Flash-Jr

Speedos are calibrated to display speed plus average margin of error which is about 10%... that's why you should be able to head through a 60km/h camera at 69km/h readout on your dials and be ok. Most people know this... but here is the interesting part... human perception is calibrated to calculate the speed and accuracy of a solo in proportion to the guitarist's length of hair... i.e longer hair = faster and more accurate perceived solo.

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