Sub-council 4 wants traffic officials to act against motorists, especially taxi drivers, who “cause havoc” at the intersection at Parow post office on Voortrekker Road.
At the sub-council meeting on Thursday January 19, councillors responded to a traffic report for October which showed 238 fines had been issued against taxis in Parow (excluding Parow Valley and Beaconvale).
These included 70 fines for having no licence or public driver’s permits, 76 for moving violations, 28 speeding fines, and 17 for parking or stopping violations.
Ward 26 (Parow) councillor Franchesca Walker said there “is a lot of violations with taxis” at the intersection at Shoprite and the Parow post office.
“I’m not very happy. I’m there every day, and the taxis are causing havoc there,” she said.
Sub-council chairman Chris Jordaan also raised concern about the intersection.
“It is a grave concern because people died there because of taxis. Robberies take place there,” he said.
A traffic official explained their deployment, saying: “We have to deal with where the complaints are coming from.”
The report for October showed 3 982 fines were issued in Goodwood, including 2 782 for speeding.
In the same month, taxis were issued 201 fines, including two speeding fines, 100 for moving violations, 16 for parking and stopping violations and 58 for having no licence or public driver’s permits.
At the end of last year, a meeting of the Parow Community Police Forum heard that more traffic officers would be employed at Goodwood traffic department at the beginning of February (“Goodwood gets more traffic cops”, Northern News, November 30).
* In other traffic-related matters,thesub-council has approved a request for traffic-calming measures at the intersection of Joubert, Rissik and Taylor streets, in Parow Valley.
The two-way stop at the intersection will be turned into a four-way stop, following a resident’s complaint that Joubert Street has “become almost like a racing track for taxis and some road hooligans”.
Sub-council noted speeding, high traffic and pedestrian volumes and motorists not stopping at the intersection in the report.
* In his chairman’s report, Mr Jordaan said CCTV cameras would be installed or upgraded following a spate of smash-and-grabs at intersections in the sub-council’s boundaries.
This includes a R65 million upgrade of CCTV infrastructure at the Transport Management Centre (TMC) in Goodwood and a R2 million upgrade and installation of CCTV cameras in Goodwood.
In October last year, the City of Cape Town unveiled CCTV cameras in Fransie van Zyl Drive, Parow (“City unveils new CCTV cameras,” Northern News, October 12). The R5 million project was funded through the mayoral urban regeneration programme and a R197 000 ward allocation.
* In terms of the City of Cape Town’s new area-based model, Goodwood and Parow are part of the central hub, along with Epping, Bellville, Delft, Manenberg, Gugulethu and Athlone. The new area-based Mayco member for central is Siyabulela Mamkeli. This is part of the City’s Organisational Development and Transformation Plan (ODTP), to improve service delivery.