Traffic police clamped down on speeding motorists and those driving without number plates, along Hout Bay’s Victoria Road, on Sunday.
“Multiple noisy super cars were suspended with drivers fined heavily and details taken for driving without licence plates. The speedsters and those driving modified engines and exhaust cars, which are both dangerous and antisocial, will not be tolerated,” said ward councillor and mayoral committee member for urban mobility Roberto Quintas, who has long been receiving complaints about “noisy super cars”.
Vehicles without licence plates were also often linked to more serious crimes, he added.
A number of fines were issued, amounting to nearly R30 000 for various offences, with the highest speed clocking just over 130km/h in the 60km/h zone.
Resident Mikaela Forrest said the area sounded like a “racetrack” on certain days and she was she relieved to hear that the City had taken action.
“People come speeding around these bends, showing off their cars and what their cars are capable of doing, but it’s at the residents’ expense, as we have to listen to it all day long,” Ms Forrest said.
“If there are more of these operations, people will actually think twice about driving so recklessly or using this road as if they were featuring in a scene out of Fast and the Furious.”
Another resident, Cameron Anthony, said a similar crackdown was needed near the harbour because drivers of modified cars were also breaking traffic laws there.
They would gather in a matter of minutes and there would be no warning that a part of the road would be used for “burnouts” and “showing off”.
“Sometimes these vehicles being used are half built and the drivers are coming out to test their cars. So they are not even sure themselves whether their cars will be able to withstand the pressure or test it’s about to be put through,” he said.
“It’s very dangerous and really irresponsible because somebody can and will get hurt if this continues.”
Earlier this year, traffic officers recorded 86 speeding offences on the stretch of Victoria Road between Mount Rhodes Drive and Llandudno Road, with the highest speed in the 60km/h zone clocking in at 139km/h, and 144 cases between Victoria Road and Mount Rhodes Drive, where 105km/h was the highest speed (“Speeding crackdown in Hout Bay,” Sentinel News, January 21, 2022).
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said one of the cars pulled over on Sunday had both of its numbers plates… only they were in the car’s boot.
That car and another one that was found to have no plates had now both been suspended and would have to undergo roadworthy tests, he said. The drivers had also been fined.
“Our number plate enforcement focus is here to stay,” he said.
