How to avoid roadblocks in South Africa

Posted on December 31st, 2008 by Richard Catto 5,209 views

South African government officials and traffic authorities are not happy with a new service started by a Belgian company, Etri (First to Know), to help road users evade traffic road blocks and stay out of jail.

The Get Road Smart service is a cell phone subscription service which sends SMSes to your mobile alerting you to the presence of speed traps and mobile road blocks set up to catch drunk drivers (and now also drug users).

The service was introduced into KZN recently and has proven popular. It has now been extended to cover Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The service also operates in Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Controversy surrounds the service. Bheki Cele, Transport MEC, feels that it defeats the ends of justice. Collen Msibi , National Transport Department spokesperson,  said the department did not support it either.

Managing Director of Etri, Vincent Parisis, had this to say:

“Officials and politicians may not like the service, but it is legal. We have been in this business for a long time and it is 100 percent legal. We are not promoting drinking and driving or speeding.

In other countries we even go so far as putting in place the bring-home taxi service for people who drink too much.

Parisis said the service contributed to preventing people from drinking and driving and speeding.

The natural response when people receive information about speed and alcohol checks is they will change their behaviour.

They will stop drinking alcohol or slow down. This is exactly what happens when people receive our SMS.”

What do you think? Is this service valuable or will it hamper traffic authorities ability to crack down on bad road users?

Sources:
Roadblock tip-off service to spread
Road block tip-off SMS angers officials

Tags: ETRI, Roadblocks, Vincent Parisis
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