It’s been just over four months since the CCID began a pilot project to fund six traffic wardens from City Traffic Services primarily to alleviate traffic congestion in the CBD during the peak hours of 15h00 until 18h30. CCID communications manager Carola Koblitz speaks to CCID manager of Safety & Security Muneeb “Mo” Hendricks to find out how the project has been working.
CK: Just as an introduction, remind us when and where the officers are deployed.
MH: The six traffic wardens under the management of the CCID are on duty from 10h00 to 18h30 each weekday. During peak hours, from 15h00, they can be seen at the intersections of Strand and Adderley streets as well as Strand and Buitengracht. Between 10h00 and 15h00, they move throughout the Central City dealing very effectively with non-moving traffic violations.
CK: How long is the project currently contracted to run?
MH: The pilot project ran until the end of June this year and was rated as so successful that we have now signed a contract with the City until June 2018, with an option to renew providing it continues to make an impact. We’d like to thank Alderman JP Smith, the City’s mayco member for Safety & Security, who was instrumental in setting up this innovative new system [a city improvement district being able to fund traffic wardens]. We’re keeping him fully posted on the project’s progress – which, in the first month of the official contract – has resulted in over R1.3 million in non-moving traffic fines being effectively issued.
CK: How does the project work in terms of the CCID being a city improvement district?
MH: The CCID has provided a space for the members at the CCID control centre in the CBD. They get briefed daily by our own CCID security team on areas of concern and we capture their daily stats to compile monthly reports. We issue them with CCID radios and provide immediate backup when required. We are able to dispatch them immediately to traffic complaints received via our call centre, and they also assist when special operations are being held targeting repeat offenders or sedan taxis. However, something about which we are very excited and which is a first for traffic wardens anywhere in South Africa, we have also equipped our six wardens with body-worn video units – the same ones that all our public safety officers wear and that have already proved to be extremely successful in behaviour modification. Traffic offenders now think twice about taking a chance in the first place when our wardens are around.
CK: What, in your opinion, has been the biggest impact made by the team?
MH: The biggest success achieved to date is the free flow of peak hour traffic since the deployment of these members along the entire Strand Street midtown corridor in the afternoons, and the large number of complaints we’ve received in the past have dropped to hardly any at all. We have also seen a major freeing up of Adderley Street as sedan taxis are no longer causing huge blockages along this road. There are now also repercussions for both bad parking behaviour and the blatant disregard for traffic law in the CBD.
CK: Apart from their presence as traffic wardens, have you noticed any other impact having them in the CBD has had?
MH: Definitely! Besides issuing traffic fines, these members are also peace officers and have been involved in significant arrests for other crimes while on the beat, and they’ve been involved in a number of incidents of crime prevention. They are a dedicated team willing to make a difference in the improvement of the Central City, and we’re extremely proud to be associated with them. In fact, we wish we could fund another six wardens for other intersections, but for this we may need to look towards a sponsorship model with Central City stakeholders.
Image: CCID traffic wardens on the corner of Adderley and Strand Streets, by Alec van de Rheede