“Good people do still exist. And these kind traffic officers remind me why I absolutely love where I live!” writes Adam Rabinowitz.
Western Cape, South Africa (09 December 2022) – Here’s a feel-good story that highlights one of the many reasons I love where we live.
Today, Annie and I went for a walk along Blouberg- we haven’t been for a few days because work has been very demanding, so today was one of those days where we appreciated what we have here even more. We got back in the car, and as we turned onto Otto du Plessis, I heard that awful flap-flap-flap sound you hear when you’ve got a flat tyre.
I had one of these a while ago and tried to drive to the nearest garage and I ended up shredding my tyre so I was overly cautious this time. I pulled over, and checked the tyres – none of them were completely flat so I figured I could drive really slowly to the garage in Tableview, about 3km away.
I put on the hazards and drove really slowly in the emergency lane – no faster than 20km/h.
Almost immediately I noticed a traffic cop car in my review mirror, following me, lights on, hazards on. They were acting as my rear guard, and they stayed right behind me all the way to the garage, a journey that took a long time because of the speed I was travelling. When I pulled into the garage, I expected the cops to wave and drive off now that we were safe but they pulled in alongside us and asked if we were okay. It was only when they could see that everything was okay that they left.
I’ve lived in Cape Town for two years now, and let me tell you; this doesn’t happen in Jo’burg.
The metro cops there don’t give a hoot about your safety; most of them are corrupt and on the take (I’ve got some stories about that one!!) and our experience with traffic law enforcement is so completely different to what happened today.
I took a pic of the two cops who followed us to safety, making sure all the way that they stood between us and other motorists, and didn’t leave us alone until they were satisfied that we were safe.
Thank you guys and thank you City of Cape Town! I love where I live.
by 