City has no designs on legally modified vehicles
A front-page report in today's Cape Argus claims that the City of Cape Town plans to target drivers of modified vehicles. The article is worryingly inaccurate and the misinformation has spread to other media platforms, including social media (see here).
For the record, the City of Cape Town's Traffic Service is mandated to enforce the provisions of the National Road Traffic Act No. 93 of 1996 - a national piece of legislation which states that any modification of or tampering with a vehicle's safety design renders the vehicle unroadworthy unless it is done by the manufacturer or a registered body builder.
If a registered body builder decides to make any alterations, they are required to re-register the vehicle and send it to the South African Police Service for clearance before the alteration is considered legal. This is very rarely or never done on motor cars and will normally take place when dealing with heavy vehicles like buses or trucks.
In addition to the National Road Traffic Act, the SANS 047 (South African National Standard) is extensively used by our motor vehicle examiners when conducting roadworthy checks on vehicles. The SANS 047 is very specific on unroadworthy issues such as suspensions and springs, steering columns, vehicle headlights and fog lamps, tinting of windows, and brakes, etc.
The City has no issue with motor vehicles that have been modified legally and in line with the legislation and standards as outlined above.
What we do have an issue with is the large number of vehicles that are modified illegally, rendering them unsafe. Alterations done by mechanics, welders, boilermakers, etc. who are not registered to do so are illegal and the law is very clear about the issue.
Contrary to the information in the article, City traffic officers are clamping down on modified vehicles and the statistics from our illegal street racing operations indicate as much. Of the more than 400 vehicles that had gathered for an illegal street race in Ottery this past weekend, only seven were suspended for illegal modifications and all of them were involved in races, because operationally it would be virtually impossible to check each and every vehicle at the location. Eight suspects were arrested for participating in illegal races, putting their lives as well as the lives of other road users in jeopardy.
Currently, City traffic officers can arrest motorists who participate in illegal races on charges of reckless and negligent driving. Officers can also suspend illegally modified vehicles from the road, in spite of the article incorrectly quoting me as saying we cannot.
What we want (and I have made this clear on a number of occasions) is the enactment of new regulations that will allow us to impose stricter penalties on illegal street racers, with very specific emphasis on those who evade or elude lawful instructions from an authorised official to pull over, including impounding their vehicles. We are also calling for harsher impoundment fees for these vehicles and want to ensure prison time for the offenders.
The act of being a spectator at the races also needs to be included with a suitable penalty, as we are inundated with complaints about their behaviour and the impact on surrounding residents. We want to discuss with the National Prosecuting Authority and the Transport MEC certain significant cases where the courts have failed to address this matter adequately and where repeat offenders have been let off too lightly by prosecutors and magistrates who apparently do not understand the gravity of the situation.
Statement issued by Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, City of Cape Town, January 22 2015
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