I’d like to think I’m a decent person. I don’t steal, murder, break the rules and in fact live quite a boring life by Cape Town standards. Now as you know, being South African, there are two things that get my balls in an absolutely horrific knot: Taxi’s and the people who should control them, the traffic police.

While I would hardly want to be a police officer and put my life on the line for a poor salary, I’d like to think that traffic cops have it a little easier. Or maybe not? You see, it seems almost taboo for a traffic cop to do any work that may require confrontation. Maybe they think taxi drivers have guns? And hell, maybe they do!

I love nothing better than driving around Newlands on a cricket match day, and seeing officers ticketing every car that is parked illegally. Sure, these cars deserve this, they have broken the rules. But surely the rules apply to all the people, all the time?

An average drive down Claremont Main Road has me swearing like I’ve just exited WW2, with taxis doing exactly as they please. If they want to stop in the left lane, and block traffic for minutes at a time, they will do it. And you know why they do it? Because just like murderers and rapists in this country, they know that there are no consequences.

Claremont Main Road: A drivers nightmare

You know what scares people? Losing their lives, and not having money. In my opinion, you rape and you murder? Then you deserve to die.

And I have a solution for taxis thinking that they own every single damn road in this country. Clamp these taxis for 24 hours.

Do you know what happens when business closes for 24 hours? People lose money, and clients. I suggest if a taxi disobeys any rules of the road, they are pulled aside, and their cars are clamped on the spot, for 24 hours. All 4 wheels, clamped. And put ‘Crime Scene’ tape around that taxi. Create a spectacle of it. At the moment, taxi drivers get pulled over, and a few minutes later they leave with a fine. But they’re still on the road. We need stricter rules on our roads, because at the moment taxis are taking us taxpayers and the government for absolute bloody fools. Which may at times be true for our government, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to be taken for a fool, ESPECIALLY considering the government take a good 45% of my money for tax. For what? So that Malema and his buddies can laugh at us and piss around with our money? So they can buy bigger cars, houses and watches?

A successful nation is not built on rules that can be bent. It’s the small rules that get broken that turn into bigger issues. If we can litter and drive how we want, why should we listen to any rules? We may as well just steal then.

What do you say, do you agree that any taxi caught breaking any rules of the road should be pulled aside and clamped for 24 hours?