Capetonians given a month to comment on traffic by-law proposed amendments

Capetonians who want to have an input on the city's traffic by-law proposed amendments have a month to do so from Friday.

The municipality is considering adding more traffic violations to its existing by-law that'll see errant motorists having their cars impounded.

Should the by-laws be amended, motorists caught disobeying certain traffic laws can have their cars confiscated.

Some of the new impoundable infringements include driving a car with an expired licence disc beyond the 90-day period, cutting into a lane immediately after passing a car and being overloaded by more than three passengers.

Safety and Security MMC JP Smith said the amendments are due to persistent complaints of bad driver behaviour in the metro.

He said the law applies to all motorists.

"The impoundment provisions we previously used were limited to the National Land Transportation Act, so we used the provisions in the national legislation to effect the impoundments.

“We are now making provisions that apply to all road users, it is not targeting any particular category of driver. It is applying to all road users public and private from the e-hailing vehicle to the mini-bus taxi to the truck driver, and private road user."

Submissions on the draft amendments can be made between 19 September to 19 October 2025, via email: traffic.bylaw@capetown.gov.za or on 021 444 7691 between 08:00 and 16:30 on weekdays.

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