Cash Cow Squad — a team of traffic officers making motorists think twice before breaking the rules of the road — it seems the general approach to enforcement of traffic laws in SA. Officers hiding in the bushes, taking aim at unsuspecting motorists on low-risk roads is the norm.Especially when the speed limit is 120 kmh or 75 mph on the open road. Come on now. Begs the ? is it to force motorists to reduce speeds on the highway or just unadulterated revenue generation? If it were the former, then there would be no need for the operators of mobile cameras to conceal themselves. And if it is in fact the latter, well, let's just say that the better the camouflage, the higher the 'profit'.
Pirates were clocked at a whopping 127 kmh or 79mph. Bry was then escorted (pic above) to the patrol car to view his land speed record. Next he was shown the menu of fines that corresponded to the range of speed infractions. 120-125 $700 rand, 125-130 $800, etc. Our fine was $800 rand. Pirates refused to pay this absurd fine and instead countered with $200 rand and well wishes for Bufana Bufana.
They shook hands to seal the deal. Let's face it if we all stuck to the speed limits the traffic departments would go broke and we'd still be on the road putting along. So we were happy to contribute to the corruption fund as we did well over 2000km with a single infraction. With the current climate of corruption being exposed almost daily in govt departments we got off cheap. I am hopeful the funds went to the improvement of roads, but unlikely.
FYI: Our average speed was 142kmh or 88mph. Pirates learned how to avoid the radar and outsmarted the "bandits" for the rest of the road trip .
Since the pirates were crossing the country with midnight runs we also learned that the Cash Cow Squad starts duty precisely at 8AM. Thankfully the cameras do not work at night, leaving only the cows, goats, and broken down vehicles to act as speed deterrents.
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