Members of the public can now more easily report officials for their poor driving thanks to new measures taken by the City of Cape Town to stop the misuse of their vehicles.
Yesterday, the City unveiled their ‘misuse’ decal that has been affixed to all fleet vehicles in an effort to promote better driving as well as the public reporting bad driving behaviour.
‘Where there is a will, there is a way. Even though there are onboard computers installed in each fleet vehicle, some drivers are still quite brazen, which has made us realise that this is not a sufficient deterrent to stamp out or drive out this bad practice,’ saysMayoral Committee Member for Assets and Facilities Management, Stuart Diamond.
The decals display a toll-free hotline number, WhatsApp and SMS numbers which can be used to report any inappropriate driving or issues experienced with the vehicles.
The misuse decal will be fixed onto the majority of Assets and Facilities Management (AFM) vehicles, but will exclude the safety and security vehicles. The AFM fleet comprises of roughly 4 000 vehicles.
“The reality is that misuse of fleet vehicles drives up the maintenance and repair costs that ultimately impact on the public purse. We have to do all we can to deter this bad behaviour, improve the utilization of these assets and in turn reduce our costs. The City views the misuse of fleet vehicles in a serious light. These assets are effectively used to deliver services to our communities and should not be exploited for other purposes,” says Diamond.
“We anticipate that, under the watchful eyes of residents, we will be able to change driver behaviour and in turn optimise the use of our fleet vehicles that will drive up efficiencies and drive down cost,” Diamond adds.
Pictures: The City of Cape Town