Ladies and gentlemen, I feel an attack of whitewash coming up:
From our local newspaper....
A director in the Western Cape Department of Community Safety responsible for the Arrive Alive road safety campaign has been arrested for allegedly driving at 205km/h on the "death stretch" of the N1 highway near Beaufort West.
It was a case of traffic cops catching their boss, as Greg Duncan is director of traffic management in the department which controls the provincial traffic department.
Duncan, who was on official department business, was allegedly driving in his turbo-charged Volkswagen Passat at 205km/h in the 120km/h zone between Laingsburg and Beaufort West on Friday evening.
Provincial traffic chief Pat Curran would not name Duncan but confirmed that a high-ranking official in the provincial government had been arrested and released on bail.
"He will appear in court in Beaufort West on Friday, March 15," Curran said.
The section of road on which Duncan was caught is notorious for its high death rate and every holiday season his department runs a provincial Arrive Alive promotion on that stretch of the N1 warning motorists and pedestrians of its dangers.
Just last month, as holiday season road deaths soared, an exasperated Arrive Alive spokesperson, Inspector Kenny Africa, told Weekend Argus: "I don't know what else we can do to discipline motorists. Today we even went on radio to warn drivers that we would have speed traps across the province and yet we are still catching people doing 150 to 170km/h. They don't seem to want to listen."
Now one of his superiors has allegedly failed to listen but Douw Steyn, acting head of the Department of Community Safety, said: "We all make mistakes from time to time. The important thing is that although a senior person in the department has been caught, I have spoken to all the relevant people and can tell you that he received no special treatment. This will all be done by the book."
Steyn, who declined to identify Duncan by name until he had appeared in court in March, said the director had been driving his private car but had been on official business.
"He was driving a private vehicle like all high-ranking officials in the department. None of us drive provincial government vehicles," he said.
Steyn said Duncan would not be suspended. "We view this allegation of speeding very seriously but we would suspend someone only if what they did affected their work and it does not affect his normal work in this case," Steyn said.
"Nobody is above the law, but we must not overstep the line. He must get fair treatment in court. This is not the time for public lynchings."
Duncan said he could not comment on the matter as it was sub judice.
Leonard Ramatlakane, provincial Minister of Community Safety, said Duncan would be treated like any other alleged offender and would receive no special treatment.
"It is unacceptable if he exceeded the speed limit, but the rule of law must be applied. He has the same rights as anyone else. It is not appropriate to run a trial by newspaper."
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Ian.
Get your brush out as I feel sure your Government will have modelled some of their traffic laws on that of the U.K.
Section 87, Road Traffic Regulation Act, 1984
Exemption of fire brigade, ambulance and police vehicles from speed limits.
No statutory provision imposing a speed limit on motor vehicles shall apply to ANY VEHICLE (note the words) on an occasion when it is being used for fire brigade, ambulance or police purposes if the observance of that provision would be likely to hinder the use of the vehicle for the purpose for which it is being used on that occasion.
May have been panning it to see if would be suitable for police purposes and to catch errant speeders of whcih you seem to have a far amount.
May I join you in your dugout for here comes the flack.....
DVD
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I get the impression that the further you are from England the longer the contributions!
Or is it us expats (I am just part time) just have more time on our hands?
:)
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Peter, if only you knew ...
that was a copy/paste from our local rag!
maybe us expats have more time away from the constant drivel of Geri Horrible/Tony Bleeugh/Poop Idols to consider our replies.
Or maybe we don't have to spend so much time keeping up with the Joneses as you home-bound fellas do...
Regards Ian Jones (cape town).
PS, I'm sure Mark Jones (Brazil) and Growler Jones (Phillipines) agree ...
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