Traffic law enforcement authorities must have adequate resources to effectively and efficiently render services to their respective communities. This includes infrastructure such as physical premises, vehicles, equipment and other resources that will enable the authority to perform proficient traffic policing functions. Traffic law enforcement authorities also have a duty to adequately monitor, maintain and use these resources to promote road safety, maintain law and order and serve road users. The main objectives of the operating principles are to achieve but not limited to the following:
• to reduce accidents, fatalities and serious injuries,
• to create a heightened awareness of road traffic safety issues,
• to inculcate good road user behaviour and encourage voluntary compliance.
• to increase detection and prosecution of critical road traffic offences.
• to reduce offence rates on all key safety indices.
• to harmonize and co-ordinate common operations in all three tiers of service delivery.
• to maximize communications and publicity exposure on enforcement issues.
• to contribute towards the reduction of crime in general.
• to change the perception of “I will not get caught” to “I will be caught and be punished”.
The afore-mentioned will be realised with the existence of the traffic law enforcement functions such as:
• Communication Systems Unit
• Drunken Driving Operations Unit
• Speed Monitoring Unit
• Public Transport Unit
• Loads Management Unit
• Accident Investigation Unit
Specialised equipment that is subject to calibration must be maintained and used according to specification. Equipment and uniforms could be used illegally by persons with criminal intent and it is therefore imperative that the strictest possible measures be introduced to prevent losses that could precipitate such abuse.
| 1.1 |
Infrastructure requirements |
| (a) |
A traffic law enforcement authority must possess and maintain infrastructure large enough to:— |
| (i) |
Adequately accommodate all its employees in a suitable manner; |
| (ii) |
Safely house its specialised law enforcement equipment; |
| (iii) |
Enable it to execute its functions; and |
| (iv) |
Store seized property including vehicles that have been impounded. |
| 1.2 |
Communication Systems Unit |
| (a) |
Communication is essential to ensure that traffic law enforcement officers have access to assistance, information, miscellaneous issues and to report matters that require attention. |
| (b) |
Effective communication is dependent on systems and equipment that are continuously available to traffic law enforcement officers. |
| (c) |
Communication also includes the interaction between call centre and the general public. |
| (a) |
All officers engaged in operational assignments must have continuous, uninterrupted access to two-way radio communication. |
| (b) |
There must be adequate radio coverage, including the ability to always reach officers always when on duty. |
| (c) |
The radio operations must conform to the Telecommunication Act, 1952 (Act No. 3 of 1952) and employees must be made aware of the requirements of this Act insofar as it affects their radio services. |
| (d) |
All telecommunication operations must be in accordance with the telecommunication “ten code” for security purposes and standardisation amongst other traffic law enforcement authorities. |
| (e) |
Each traffic law enforcement authority must have a functional radio control room or centre. |
| (f) |
The radio control centre must be operational 24 hours a day. |
| (g) |
A provincial radio control centre must be able to communicate with all authorities within that province. |
| (h) |
The traffic law enforcement authority must provide 24-hour (toll free) telephone access for emergency calls and requests for service. |
| (a) |
Each traffic law enforcement authority must maintain a switchboard which has access to all the telephone extensions of the authority. |
| (b) |
Employees must have access to extensions and the switchboard operator must have an internal directory with the names and extension numbers of all personnel. |
| (c) |
Employees must exercise courtesy and patience during telephone calls and must always identify the authority and themselves at the start of the communication. |
| (d) |
Employees must keep private calls, whether made or received, to a minimum and as short as possible. |
| (e) |
A telephone register must be kept for all out-going and in-coming calls. |
| 1.2.3 |
Tele- type and automated data |
| (a) |
Each traffic law enforcement authority must provide fax or e-mail addresses to employees who require these services for the effective and efficient execution of their services and these addresses must be communicated to the public who may want to utilise these services to interact with the authority or its personnel. |
| (b) |
Each traffic law enforcement authority must designate a person(s) to manage this communication and to appropriately disseminate information to the relevant divisions or persons. |
| (c) |
Significant information must be recorded and filed for future reference. |
| (d) |
The National Road Traffic Law Enforcement Joint Operating Centre shall coordinate all law enforcement operations in the country and linked to Provincial and major authorities. |
| 1.2.4 |
Access by communications centre personnel |
| (a) |
Communications centre personnel must have access to at least the following departmental resources: – |
| (ii) |
Duty roster of all personnel; |
| (iii) |
Contact details of every employee; |
| (iv) |
Visual maps detailing the traffic law enforcement authority’s service area; |
| (v) |
Written procedures and telephone numbers for procuring medical and other emergency services as well as a range of essential external services. |
| (b) |
Communication personnel must forward messages to a supervisor of a traffic division upon receipt of messages in respect of road traffic operations. |
| (c) |
Security measures for the communications centre shall include recording call system. |
| (a) |
A traffic law enforcement authority may designate a traffic officer as media liaison officer to deal with specific road traffic safety law enforcement matters, excluding corporate media issues. |
| (b) |
A chief traffic officer or the head of traffic may determine the parameters within which the media liaison officer shall operate and release information to the media. |
| (c) |
The designated traffic media liaison officer should be the only person to communicate with the media regarding traffic matters. |
| (d) |
The traffic media liaison officer must maintain ongoing liaison with the media and be available for on-call responses to the news media whenever reasonable. |
| (e) |
In the absence of the traffic media liaison officer, the chief traffic officer or head of traffic or a person designated for this purpose should liaise with the media. |
| (f) |
The traffic media liaison officer or a person designated in terms of (d) above must collect and coordinate information and after approval by the chief traffic officer or head of traffic, or if it falls within the ambit of a general approval, release information pertaining to:— |
| (i) |
On-going road traffic accident investigations; |
| (ii) |
Outcome of operations; and |
| (g) |
When other road traffic law enforcement authorities are involved in mutual activities, the traffic media liaison officer must release information only after clearance and approval by the chief traffic officer or head of traffic of the other traffic law enforcement authority. |
| (h) |
When releasing information, cognisance must be taken of the right to privacy and the public interest. |
| (i) |
The traffic media liaison officer or the officer in charge of an incident, may assist the media in covering news stories at the scene of the incident. |
| (j) |
Officers must not address public gatherings, appear on radio or television, prepare any articles for publication, act as correspondent for a newspaper or periodical, release or divulge information, or any other matters of the traffic law enforcement authority whilst holding themselves as representing the traffic law enforcement authority in such matters, without the chief traffic officer of head of traffic’s approval. |
| 1.3 |
Drunken Driving Operations Unit |
| (a) |
The National Road Traffic Act, 1996 (Act No. 93 of 1996) prohibits driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs having narcotic effect, or with excessive alcohol in the blood or breath. Traffic officers as enforcers of road traffic law are empowered to ensure that road users do not contravene the law. |
| (b) |
Intoxicated driving is a recognised major risk factor in accident causation and requires dedicated attention from traffic law enforcement authorities. |
| (c) |
Drunken driving operations shall be conducted in line with the relevant legislation, policies and SOPs. |
| (d) |
Drunken driving operations should be planned based on the intelligence led data relating to the prevalence of the offences, accidents and socio-economic factors. |
| 1.4 |
Speed Monitoring Unit |
| (a) |
Speed is a major risk factor in accident causation. |
| (b) |
Speed monitoring must be based on a careful analysis of accident and other traffic data to select the most appropriate locations for enforcement. |
| (c) |
Outsourcing and contracting of law enforcement activities |
| (d) |
All outsourcing and contracting of law enforcement activities must be in line with the “National Framework on the Outsourcing and Contracting of Public Entities to perform law enforcement activities and/or for the supply and delivery of law enforcement equipment”. |
| (e) |
No authority will deviate and or amend any provision of the framework manual without following the prescribed procedures within the document. |
| (f) |
No service providers shall be permitted to attend or participate in any way in any road traffic safety task team, working group, and committees. |
| (g) |
Service providers will only be part of the stakeholders’ interaction sessions as invited members, and no special presentation of any products will be tabled at local, provincial and national law enforcement structures unless it is done through the supply chain management process. |
| 1.5 |
Public Transport Unit |
| (a) |
The provisions of the National Land Transport Act, (Act. No. 5 of 2009) and NRTA, (Act. No 93 of1996) empowers traffic officers to ensure that public transport operators do not contravene the act. |
| (b) |
Public transport is key in that they transport multiple passengers at any given time as such, when they are involved in accidents, they result in multiple injuries and fatalities. |
| (c) |
Preliminary investigations indicate that most of the crashes involving public passenger and freight transport vehicles, human factor played a prominent role. |
| (d) |
A dedicated Unit that specialises in the enforcement and monitoring of public transport becomes of utmost importance. |
| (e) |
Law enforcement is always applied to the public transport operators and vehicles by monitoring and ensuring compliance to the operating licence conditions. This enforcement is performed by the traffic officers municipal and provincial, in some cases by public transport law enforcement Inspectors. |
| (f) |
The traffic law enforcement authority must have a declared pound to keep public transport vehicles that would have been impounded in terms of the NLTA. |
| (g) |
Public Transport Officers must perform their duties with due recognition of the rights of passengers as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. |
| 1.6 |
Loads Management Unit |
| (a) |
Section 3I of the National Road Traffic Act, 1996 (Act No. 93 of 1996), amongst other things, empowers traffic officers to ascertain the dimensions of, the load on, or the mass, axle mass load or axle unit mass load of, any vehicle, or the mass of any combination of vehicles, loaded and unloaded, and if necessary for the purpose of ascertaining such mass, require any vehicle or combination of vehicles to proceed to a mass meter or mass-measuring device. |
| (b) |
Overloading control plays a major role in protecting the road infrastructure from damage caused by vehicles that do not comply with the mass restrictions prescribed in legislation. |
| (c) |
The equipment used for weighing vehicles must be calibrated and checked as prescribed. |
| (d) |
Impoundment of overloaded vehicles has major financial implications for operators and must be conducted within the prescribed parameters. |
| (e) |
Traffic Officers should deal with vehicles transporting dangerous goods in terms of the relevant legislation applicable SANS Codes. |
| 1.6.1 |
Overloading measuring devices: Mass measuring equipment |
| (a) |
The load-mass-measuring equipment that must be used is:— |
| (i) |
Weigh-in-motion screening mass-measuring device (WIM); and |
| (ii) |
Static evidentiary scale. |
| (b) |
The static legal scale must be utilised for the final accurate weighing of a vehicle. |
| (c) |
The result of the static legal scale is the result that is acceptable in court and must be retained as proof of load mass for prosecution purposes. |
| (a) |
Dynamic scale (WIM) screening mass-measuring equipment may be used to screen vehicles. |
| 1.7. |
Accident Investigation Unit |
| (a) |
Traffic law enforcement authorities shall participate and conform to the nationally approved standards, policies and processes adopted and prescribed for traffic incident management purposes. (Road Incident Management System (RIMS). |
| (b) |
Traffic accidents have a profound effect on road safety, traffic flow and congestion. The response to road accidents requires a thorough knowledge of incident management and accident investigation techniques. |
| (c) |
The safety of persons involved in an accident and that of other road users is paramount and therefore requires an expeditious, professional and safe response from traffic law enforcement practitioners. |
| (d) |
Traffic accident recording, investigation and reconstruction require specialised training. It is imperative that officers understand the principles of accident investigation and reporting. |
| (e) |
Accurate reporting forms the basis of intelligence-led (evidence-based) policing and must be conducted in a professional manner. |
| 1.8 |
Markings on patrol vehicles |
| (a) |
Patrol vehicles, with the exception of command vehicles, motor cycles and unmarked patrol vehicles intended specifically for the identification of moving violations, shall be white and marked conspicuously in the manner and dimensions determined by the Corporation as traffic law enforcement authority vehicles, i.e. to provide a highly visible, easily recognisable and standardised presence nationally. |
| (b) |
The Chief of Traffic may prescribe the period within which all patrol vehicles that re not of the colour and marked as prescribed, on the date that this Code becomes effective, must be converted to the prescribed colour and standardised vehicle markings. |
| (c) |
A traffic law enforcement authority may, in the manner prescribed by the Corporation, request that the date determined in (b) above be further extended and such a request shall be fully motivated. |
| (d) |
Markings on vehicles must be of distinct national colours and must include:— |
| (i) |
The logo and law enforcement authority’s name in reflective, highly visible letters on both front doors; |
| (ii) |
Emergency telephone number; |
| (iii) |
The unit’s number on the sides, rear and on the roof; |
| (iv) |
Highly visible reflective striping on each side; and |
| (v) |
Number where corruption can be reported. |
Statistics Act, 1999
