New traffic measures loom as Cape Town battles growing congestion

Intersection gridlock in Cape Town has become a major daily frustration for motorists, with calls for stronger enforcement mounting as complaints rise.

The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, confirmed that inconsiderate driving and blocked intersections are contributing significantly to congestion across the CBD and beyond.

"I have also been raising this fairly consistently. We had a launch of this where we tried to educate the people to be civil, not just an enforcement approach, but also a public awareness approach."

Smith says the City has increased enforcement, issuing more than 314 fines in the CBD between September and November, specifically for blocking intersections. Citywide, more than 231,000 fines were issued over roughly the same period.

"A traffic bylaw is coming that provides for people who disobey these signals to have their vehicle impounded in addition to being fined. That's only going to be for the most egregious offences. But where somebody makes themselves guilty of repeated offences in this regard, we can then start applying more effective measures."

Despite these efforts, Smith acknowledged that resource constraints, competing crime-prevention demands, and the sheer number of problem intersections limit the City’s ability to staff all hotspots.

He added that traffic-light synchronisation is being reviewed, but warned that congestion will worsen unless rail and broader transport capacity improve.

"The reality is, if we keep on growing as a city and rail does not become a viable contributor to alleviating our congestion and more people move here, and more cars get added to our roads, this challenge will continue to grow. There's only so much you can do with enforcement before additional road and rail and other public transport capacity becomes essential."

To listen to JP Smith in conversation with CapeTalk's John Maytham, click below: