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Speeding bus filmed: What the law says about filming bad driving behaviour

Image: YouTube
Image: YouTube

Pretoria - Have you filmed a speeding motorist or captured reckless road behaviour?While others might be breaking road rules, you too could be breaking the law.

A Wheels24 reader sent us a video of a bus speeding on a national highway.

The reader says: "I was traveling to Bela-Bela from Centurion and was going about 110km/h when a bus came flying past me.

"I increased my speed to see how fast he was going. When I caught up with him we were probably doing about 135km/h. He unfortunately started speeding up more and not wanting to break the law further, I reduced my speed.

"At the end of the video you can see that he starts pulling away from me, and my best guess was that he was doing more than a 160km/h.

"I know that I shouldn't be on my mobile whilst driving but I just could not resist. People like that put many lives at risk when driving at those speeds!"

Watch the video below:



What does the law say about using cellphones while driving?

No driver is permitted to use a hand-held communication device while driving, this includes a cell phone, microphone or other communication devices, according to the South African National Road Traffic Act.

You may use such a device only if it is not being held in your hand or with any other part of your body (e.g. it may not be gripped under your chin either).
 
You may also not use the cellular phone at traffic lights even when the vehicle is not in motion, if the engine is running you are considered to be driving.
 
Transgressing the Rules of the Road includes taking photos, filming while driving and posting on social media


Adv Johan Jonck from Arrive Alive says: "The law is quite clear. The person capturing the footage would be in contravention of the National Road Traffic Act. We would use footage such as this to alert company and fleet owners of irresponsible driving by their drivers but we MUST caution against not adhering to the Rules of the Road yourself!

"Best is to have dashboard camera footage or to have a passenger capture these offences."

Read: Road Legislation and using your phone when driving

Jonck adds:  "We need to recognise that everything that takes our focus and attention away from the roads can be regarded as a Driver Distraction. It includes making us take both our hands off the steering wheel and occupying our attention – taking it away from the road, other road users and traffic conditions.

"This is not only a conversation on a cellular phone, but also conversations and heated arguments with other passengers, as well as activities such as fiddling with the car radio, eating, drinking, applying make-up etc.

"We would like to urge both drivers and passengers to remain focused - allowing the driver the best time, space and focus for a swift and effective response to emergencies on the road!"

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