The South African Towing and Recovery Association (Satra) will no longer pay spotting fees to people at traffic lights for accident tip-offs, its chairperson announced on Wednesday.
”We will no longer pay tip-off fees to accident spotters,” said Andre van der Merwe, following an earlier crisis meeting of Satra representatives.
This followed allegations that a Roodepoort man caught allegedly tampering with robots at the busy Ontdekkers and Christiaan de Wet intersection was trying to cause accidents to increase his tip-off fees.
Amending an earlier Satra statement, Van der Merwe denied that 23-year-old Rudi Berg, arrested in connection with the alleged incident, was a spotter for Satra and the freelance operators working in the area.
However, this had highlighted something the organisation had never considered before.
”We now view this with serious concern,” Van der Merwe said.
He said the organisation’s constitution will be amended immediately to reflect this decision and its 800 members will be contractually obliged to abide by the decision.
Since the man’s claims were published and debated on radio stations, he said tow-truck drivers have come in for a lot of abuse from the public, which Satra considers unfair and misplaced.
”Our drivers are saying they [motorists] are showing them the finger. It’s not nice out there.”
He denied allegations that drivers put oil on the road, saying that an investigation of such a previous accusation revealed that the oil had washed down from a nearby garage.
There is no denying the industry is ”rough and tumble” and overtraded, with many operators competing for a piece of the shrinking pie, with low entry levels and no legislation to set standards.
Drivers have also become hardened over years of attending to accident scenes.
It is not difficult to buy a truck, get a licence and ”operate out of granny’s backyard”, he said.
He urged the public to do business only with drivers bearing the Satra decal displaying the current year, and to contact its helpline on 0861 072872 for advice at an accident scene.
”People must know they are being protected when they feel they are being descended on by a crowd of vultures.”
Van der Merwe said Satra is talking to the government about professional driver permits specific to tow-truck drivers and pushing its members to obtain basic first-aid training to enhance the ”golden hour” assistance after an accident.
Satra directors at the meeting noted that their members play a valuable role in keeping intersections safe from thieves, cleaning up and helping control accident scenes, and informing police of crimes.
The man who staked out the Ontdekkers/Christiaan de Wet intersection was a paramedic before deciding to be a tow-truck driver.
The Ekurhuleni metro and local tow-truck drivers have agreed to divide the region into zones, which are covered on a rotating basis by the people competing for business in the area. It is hoped this system can be introduced to Johannesburg.
He lamented the termination of an agreement with police, where tow-truck companies had their own contact people placed in police emergency call centres, using their own equipment.
Permission for this was suddenly withdrawn without explanation.
This system had eliminated the need to bribe police for tip-offs and racing to a scene, as the closest driver to an accident would be dispatched.
Van der Merwe said it is up to traffic authorities to deal with drivers who speed to accident scenes, who cross red traffic lights and clutter accident scenes.
He also said that it is up to the local authorities such as the Johannesburg Roads Agency to make sure that the traffic lights cannot be tampered with. It was reported that the power boxes that supply the Ontdekkers road traffic lights were unlocked.
”These people must start delivering services that we pay rates and taxes for,” Van der Merwe said. — Sapa