Next time you criticise the Boys in Blue, think of this....
From our local paper.
A man was shot and killed during a heated altercation in Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal at the weekend, when a group of provincial traffic officers allegedly tried to remove a colleague from the scene of an accident.
The shooting happened after a member of the municipal traffic department had apparently tried to detain a provincial officer and take him for a blood-alcohol test.
The provincial officer had overturned his car in Durnford Road on Saturday night and the municipal policeman - being the first on the scene - wanted to check the driver's sobriety.
It is believed that the provincial officer refused to go for a blood test and, during the altercation that followed, some of his colleagues arrived at the scene.
"I have been told - from the reports of witnesses - that the provincial officers bundled the driver into a car and tried to leave the scene," said the mayor, Denny Moffatt. "Apparently they drove straight at our officer, who was standing in front of their car."
Moffatt said the car hit or almost hit the municipal officer - the details were not clear - and a shot was fired. It was tragic, he said, that a provincial officer was killed. "But they should not have tried to leave the scene. They should know better."
He said local municipal officials were anxious to ensure that a full investigation was carried out and had tried to ensure that blood tests were taken of all the people concerned. "I am not at all sure this was done. And I am really worried that the procedures followed were not normal."
Moffatt said the blood tests could provide vital evidence in the case. "I would still like to know how the officer managed to overturn the car on a stretch of road with a 40km/h speed limit."
He said the municipal officer had been arrested after the shooting. "I tried - with the help of an attorney - to get him released on bail, but could not."
The provincial traffic police have refused to issue any statement on the incident. "We will issue a statement after our initial investigations have been completed," said a spokesperson for the provincial police, Colin Govender.
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This is about the same mob ...
Nearly all South African motorists daily break the law by having stickers of various kinds - from parking discs to advertising material - on their vehicle windscreens and windows.
And the provincial traffic police in KwaZulu-Natal have warned that they will no longer tolerate this situation. They have issued a warning to motorists to remove all stickers - with the exception of licence discs.
They say all stickers have been illegal since January 1, but many motorists have failed to comply with the new law.
Many vehicles still have parking discs, advertising material and slogans illegally stuck on their windscreens and back windows.
"And we still see all those stickers showing support for soccer clubs, like Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal being displayed on many vehicles," said provincial police spokesperson Colin Govender.
He warned that the windscreen parking discs issued by many companies and clubs were also illegal.
"There is now a fine of R300 for having any of these discs or stickers on a windscreen or window."
He said the stickers had been banned as part of the national road safety initiative.
"Stickers are very dangerous, because they obstruct the view of the driver."
Govender said the regulations controlling winscreen or window stickers had not been specific enough.
The new regulations stipulated that no person may operate a vehicle on a public road if "any material or film with a textured surface displaying a picture or graphic is applied to a windscreen or window".
Govender said many vehicles in KwaZulu-Natal also had bumper stickers that were illegal.
"It is illegal to have a bumper sticker within 150mm of a registration plate. This has been the case for many years.
"But we still find them stuck right next to the registration plate or even on it - like those little Donald Duck stickers."
Govender said traffic officers who stopped motorists for any reason - for speeding or at roadblocks - would routinely look for illegal stickers.
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Ian:
At the weekend I was stopped by a motorcycle cop for no other reason than I was clearly a foreigner in an upmarket vehicle and worth an attempt to shake down if possible on a day when business was slow. He poked in and around the vehicle, closely followed by The Growlette to make sure he didn't nick something, then, not having found much of interest apart from the Growlette's legs decided he was going to give me a ticket for driving in sandals! I pointed out that if doing this was risky, how much more so for a cop to be riding a motorbike wearing shorts and no helmet, and anyway, fully 93% of the 51 million or so drivers in the Philippines passing by us right now as we stand here are probably driving in flip flops or similar. Hell, it's a hot country. He then ticked the box on his little form marked "arrogance". Yes, you can get fined for that in the Land of Sun and Fun.
We always carry a disposable camera in the car, you never know when it might come in handy. This time it did, Growlette called "hi officer" to the cop and snapped him in the process of writing the ticket. Said piece of paper cursorily folded with a scowl, stuffed in cop pocket and we were waved on our way.
My Tagalog is not that good, but I do know that what Ma'am mouthed at him through the window as we sped off involved his mother and a donkey.
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Growler, is that TagaloG or a typo for tagalo, long time since I was in Manila may be I've forgotten.
Bill
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Bill:
TagaloG, one of the 611 languages and dialects spoken in the Philippines, the lingua franca of Luzon, which as you will know is the main island of the 7,000 odd which make up the archipelago. It is the basis of Pilipino, the bastardised "national" lingo taught in schools as the government's xenophobic attempt to kill off one of its former main human resource assets, the wide use of spoken and written English. The employment of loonies in high places is not the prerogative of the failed EU experiment in let's all have a bureau-Euro party.
But we must stick to motoring, as we have been told by the big boys in class further up this page.
Today I visited the gas station and bought some windshield washer fluid.
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