Cape Town bylaws driving phone

Photo: Pexels

Cape Town bylaws strike again: Bad drivers may get phones ‘taken off them’

Confiscations may not be a new thing, but the City of Cape Town are stepping things up: They want to punish bad drivers by giving their phones away.

Cape Town bylaws driving phone

Photo: Pexels

The word “bylaw” has become somewhat synonymous with the ridiculous in Cape Town. Earlier this year, one controversial legislation caused a stir by enforcing fines for the homeless. More titters were raised when a proposed rule to “ban swearing on the beach” was floated. But this latest one may take the biscuit.

Opening for public comment on Tuesday, the City of Cape Town are publishing a new set of traffic bylaws. It’s aimed at creating better regulation for the taxi industry, and holding e-hailing employees to a higher standard of accountability. It also looks to get tough with “reckless and negligent drivers”.

Cape Town bylaws: What the city plan to do with your phones

Now, confiscating phones from ill-behaved motorists isn’t a new thing. This has, allegedly, been happening since 2014. But Mayco Member for Safety JP Smith wants to go one step further: He told the media earlier on Tuesday that he and the City are in no mood to return the devices to the drivers, and his team explained their plans further:

“In this bylaw there is a provision to donate cellphones that are impounded. It’s been four or five years that we’ve been sitting with these devices, and we now want to get rid of them. The easiest way is to destroy them, or auction them, but we were more keen to donate them to deserving beneficiaries.”

JP Smith

New Cape Town bylaws explained

According to COCT, they are planning to hand them over to the likes of neighbourhood watch groups, non-profit organisations and registered charities. It’s very much a case of taking from the guilty, and giving to the innocent. Here’s what the bylaws – which have been made available in a 53-page document – say about phone impounding:

The authorised officer must, when impounding any hand-held communication device:

  • Inform the owner of such communication device of the reasons of impounding
  • Issue a receipt to the owner of such hand-held communication device, stating the place at which such device may be claimed
  • Follow all procedures contained in any policy of the City dealing with the impoundment of property.

Owners of impounded communication devices will have a period of three months from the date of impoundment to retrieve their impounded communication devices, considering:

  • Communication devices not retrieved within the three-month period will be forfeited to the City and will become the property of the City.
  • The City may, upon prior written application, extend the period by which a cell phone should be retrieved provided that the extension may not be granted more than twice.
  • The City may destroy, sell, donate or take any other measure which it deems necessary to recover the costs relating to the impoundment and storage of communication devices which have been forfeited to the City.

Expect another backlash

No doubt there will be a slew of objections to these revised guidelines – after all, this is a Cape Town bylaw we’re talking about here – but the administration remains firm in clamping down on bad drivers. A recent operation from the traffic department handed out a wave of fines and impoundment notices to taxi operators in Dunoon.

However, those affected did not take it lightly. The action sparked protests in the region, which ended up shutting down major highways leading into Cape Town. Smith and the City of Cape Town remain unperturbed and have vowed to “take things further” to make the streets safer.