Is this the end of the blue-light convoy chaos?
Those who sat in stand-still traffic on Cape Town’s N2 last week will probably agree when I say, “I will rejoice the day that the blue-light convoys are regulated, or ideally, banned!”
Going nowhere slowly
What usually takes me 35 minutes to get home took me just over 3 hours, thanks to the various political events, fires and accidents happening in and around Cape Town.
There we were, sitting in bumper to bumper traffic at 4pm trying to be as patient and as understanding as possible (apart from those motorist who’ll gladly drive in the wrong lane only to push in front of you at the very last minute).
Are we there yet?
After one and a half hours and about 6 blue-light convoy brigades (each of which delayed every car by a further 10 minutes to let them pass through), even the taxi drivers were stuck!
At one point I timed how long it would be before I could turn my ignition on to move just half a meter forward. The longest waiting time was 18 minutes!
Battery empty, bladder full
My phone battery had died along with all the muscles in my bladder.
Sidenote: how many people had to relieve themselves in traffic last week?
I was finally getting closer to home, looking over the highway from my car as I sat at the top of the bridge at the N2 turn off.
Once again the obnoxious sound of the ‘blue-light’ entourage could be heard while the rest of us, insignificant and meaningless motorists, began to shuffle as far to the side as possible to create a red carpet of the N2.
Nowhere to go
To the left of us was a line of concrete pillars which had been placed firmly into the ground to prevent motorists from getting to close to the roadworks. In other words, that’s as far off the road as we could move. To the right of our two lanes was the side of the bridge so of course that was as far as that side of traffic could go.
This left a narrow gap for the blue-light brigade to get through and unless they’d wait until there was enough space for the rest of us to move further aside and out again, there was no other way for them to get through.
Blue-light Traffic Bullies
But apparently, the blue light convoy and the police vans that follow it can do what they like. This includes barging past all cars, stuck or not, scraping and denting any vehicle in their way and then knocking off the review mirror of another and driving off.
Simple as that.
There are calls for the blue-light convoys to be banned after a crash involving a vehicle from KwaZulu-Natal premier Senzo Mchunu’s security detail killed two people on the N2.
This goes without saying that clearly, regulation needs to be enforced and better training and/or skilled drivers need to be deployed if the blue-light convoy vehicles are to remain on our busy roads.
However, if they’re banned entirely, they will surely not be missed.
What are your thoughts? Have you been affected by these blue light brigades?
Also read: City warns Joburg traffic will be much higher than usual