Car owners and the business community at large are complaining bitterly about the erratic behaviour of the Traffic Wardens roaming the streets of the capital. They do not seem to have any notion of the law, specifically the Road Traffic Act. Further, they also seem to lack the basic understanding of their function and purpose. They have been seen on numerous occasions frivolously dishing out fix penalty tickets left, right and centre. Most of the time the cases are without any merit whatsoever. Whenever they are challenged some of them get aggressive and personal, creating a tense and volatile atmosphere susceptible to physical conflict and violence.?/
This is the result of government’s bad recruiting policy. It seems that traffic wardens are being recruited without consideration of the person’s educational background, qualifications, character or track record. The Police Force has a similar problem. Some police officers have absolutely no idea how to discharge their duties and responsibilities. The most common problem has been how to approach, interact and engage members of the public. More often than not they abuse their power and over reacts to simple situation which could have been easily resolved by using tact and politeness. They have also shown complete indifference and disrespect to members of the National Assembly, Ministers, lawyers, judges, and other important people in society. A group of police officers and prison wardens were heard swearing and cursing drivers after the latter started honking when the police vehicle blocked the traffic in the middle of
Despite the fact that the police officers go through months of intensive training at the Police Academy, the training seems ill-equipped to arm our officers with the proper baggage to discharge their functions responsibly and effectively. There is one simple rule which this government need to apply if a person fails to attain the appropriate standard even after training, he or she must not be employed but should be allowed to go find work elsewhere in some other field. We cannot all be doctors, lawyers, engineers and so on. This is a reality and this government must accept this fact if this country is to progress and prosper.
One might view the duties of traffic wardens as being simple and trivial but it is not. There is a great deal of commonsense and decision-making involved in this line of work. For instance, Traffic Wardens do not understand that no parking sign in certain areas in Victoria apply between 6.00am and 6.00pm only. Police officers have also been seen performing the jobs of traffic wardens and these people sometimes cannot even read traffic signs on boards stationed by the road side. Merchants and business owners in Victoria, in particular, have complained that they are finding it difficult to get stocks to their shops even in off-peak hours. That is because the Traffic Wardens are insisting on giving the trucks a fixed penalty voucher even for unloading purposes. This is a joke considering that we have only a few commercial vehicles, not enough to obstruct the flow of traffic in