Letter: Traffic officials must do their jobs without fear

I WATCHED the budget speech and when the minister spoke about cutting government expenses, I thought he was speaking about the NMB traffic department.

Why do we have a traffic department when you do not see traffic officers? I thought I saw a ghost last week when driving down Stanford Road and a traffic official stopped next to me. The problem is that the taxis were driving like crazy around her and she did not do anything. How is it possible that the traffic department can’t send traffic officers to areas that are a nightmare to drive in?

Take Stanford Road in peak hour traffic. The taxis, buses and some of the other drivers drive like they do not have licences and I highly doubt that most of them do. Try and turn into one of the streets via Stanford Road and a taxi is driving in the IPTS lane – then you, who have right of way, must give way for the taxi or you will be involved in an accident.

Look at Durban Road, which looks like a rubbish dump, and in my opinion one part of Korsten should be rezoned as one, but try and drive to Mercantile Hospital in the morning or late afternoon and you stand a chance of being involved in an accident or knocking down somebody who doesn’t look where they are walking or just doesn’t care.

The traffic department should start being more visible, stop being afraid of the taxi bosses and start doing their job. If you can’t do your job, give it to somebody who can and will.