Do you agree that car modifications should be illegal?
Modified cars could now be a thing of the past as the Cape Town Traffic Department has recently made efforts to clamp down on modified cars as part of their actions against illegal street racers – and of course the motoring industry is very unhappy about this issue.
Illegal street racing has been a big problem for a long time according to Cape Town’s JP Smith, and the traffic department has now claimed that even simple modifications, such as wider or larger wheels and tyres, larger exhausts, or any fittings not clearly specified by the car’s manufacturer, may now have a motorist running the risk of having a car declared unroadworthy.
The Western Cape’s traffic officers have been stopping cars they saw as having been modified and removing their licence disks, forcing the owners to go through a roadworthy process.
This shouldn’t come as a big surprise though, as the traffic department spokesman Richard Coleman pointed out that regulations states no modifications could be made to any vehicle that was not specified by the manufacturer, and that all work on cars had to be done by individuals or organisations who carried a letter of authority regarding the car.
Therefore it’s not legal to modify a car by lowering it or changing the wheel size. This is also a danger on the road.
Owners of modernised cars sees this as a threat and are saying they have been victimised by traffic officials. But Coleman contended that the mere action of lowering a car made it unsafe on the road. When asked how it could be unsafe if the Federation Internationale d’Automobile (FIA) allowed the lowering of cars for competitive motor racing, he said it would be safe for the track but not for the road.
The city is however not giving in. In an attempt at renewing its focus on fast-tracking regulations to tackle illegal racing. This would include imposing heavier fines, impounding vehicles and calling for longer jail sentences for those caught breaking the law.
Source: Cape Town Lately