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Threats and a big stick don't make traffic flow
So, the government and big municipalities have come up with a programme to spend lots of money – R3.8-billion, or about R700 per income tax-payer – to jack up the nation's transport infrastructure for 400 000 World Cup visitors.
From the other end of the equation, that's R9 500 for every expected soccer fan! How cool is that as a welcome?
Most of the grand plan, however, seems to involve penalising folk who have no choice but to use a car to get to work - they don't have a (subsidised) train or bus service.
Freeway lanes will be reserved for "high-occupancy" vehicles, all other commuters will be crammed into what's left. In Gauteng, for instance, one lane of the Pretoria-Jozi freeway could be reserved morning and evening for HOV's so, if you can't find two people who live near you who commute at the same time and work in the same area as you do (how likely is that, hey?) then you'll be in "the other lanes".
That on a freeway already overcrowded for 14 hours a day! And there will suddenly be hundreds of traffic cops (that we don't have!) patrolling the nation's roads (in cars and on motorcycles we also don't have) and handing out hefty fines for non-compliance.
Even though you've paid taxes and road licence fees and petrol levies and all the rest for the RIGHT to use that road, the government wants to move the, er, goalposts and BAN you from doing so. And all for a road plan that won't work because those who CAN use public transport are already doing so.
But wait, there IS a solution! Call your local roads department and offer a daily lift to the officials backing this stupidity. That way you can still travel alone – except for two or three dummies in the passenger seats. - The Editor
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| JIM REDMAN: He won six World championships for Honda in the 1960s and is still racing at 73.
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