As of the final week of January, the City of Joburg has relaunched roadside speed cameras on municipal roads to crack down on speeding motorists.
These “Advanced Law Enforcement and Crash Management” services have been out of operation for the past year and a half as a result of an expired contract with the service provider that was responsible for the upkeep and operation of the devices.
“The signing of a new contract for the provision of advanced speed cameras will help keep the City’s roads accident-free,” said David Tembe, member of the mayoral committee for public safety.
“We want to send a clear message to motorists that the City of Johannesburg has a zero tolerance for lawlessness, drunkenness, and reckless driving.”
Offline since May 2021
Both the City of Joburg and Thswane’s speed enforcement cameras, including mobile and handheld devices, were inactive since May 2021 due to the aforementioned lapsed contract with service provider Syntell, and they only came back online in January 2023.
As Syntell had to maintain the cameras as well as upload fines onto the National Traffic Information Systems (Natis) system, no new fines were issued during the 19-month period, thus causing millions of rands in lost revenue.
However, on 1 January 2023, the stationary cameras were activated and since then the cities’ traffic police have started roadside operations again to catch speeding drivers in the act.
“Our contract with Syntell for the provision of Advanced Law Enforcement and Crash Management services is bearing fruit, and it could not have come at a better time,” said Tembe.
During the month, the Johannesburg Metro Police (JMPD) recorded over 6,000 cases of speeding of which 2,816 were in the city itself, 2,725 in the Sandton area, and 771 in Roodepoort.
“Speeding is one of the major causes of fatalities on the road, and the speed cameras will boost JMPD efforts to reduce fatalities and improve road safety. They will also boost revenue generation,” said JMPD Spokesperson Xolani Fihla.
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