The South Australian Government had delivered on another election commitment when it recently launched Traffic Watch with the South Australian Police (SAPOL).
According to a recent press release, Traffic Watch is an electronic application that the public can use to report incidents of poor driving behaviour using their computer, tablet or mobile phone.
Reporting tool for the general public
The information sent through the app will be used for the development of appropriate SAPOL road safety enforcement responses, to be in the right place at the right time, and to focus on the right people, whose driving behaviour needs to change.
Minister for Emergency Services Corey Wingard shared that the app was a positive step for the general public to be able to easily report incidents and for road safety.
According to him, dangerous and hoon driving were often raised to him as a key concern among the community.
Therefore, it is critical that a system be put in place where the community can easily report incidents and this type of dangerous behaviour.
Local Member for Colton, Matt Cowdrey explained that hoon driving has been a long-standing issue in his electorate and an app such as this was well overdue.
He shared that irresponsible driving is one of the most frequently reported issues in the area. Hoon driving is a word used to describe driving dangerously or causing nuisance on the road.
This app is proof that the State Government is taking proactive steps to help the public provide SAPOL with more timely accurate information.
Benefits of Traffic Watch
This new, easy-to-use platform will provide SAPOL with increased capability to police these issues.
The Traffic Watch on-line reporting solution has several functions. These are:
- Support SAPOL’s frontline leadership role in the area of road safety
- Recognise the need to be responsive to the community, who wish to report incidents of dangerous, negligent or reckless driver behaviour or provide an ability for a member of the public to submit a report using their computer or mobile phone
- Determine if the end-user is attempting to report an emergency or an incident that requires police attendance, and direct them to call; and in the case of mobile phone users, provide a feature to initiate the call
- Deliver the ability to use the information for intelligence purposes, and for development of appropriate road safety enforcement responses.
The information captured through Traffic Watch will help make roads safe by assisting police in the following:
- Determining the future allocation of resources including the deployment of highway and metropolitan motorcycle and vehicle patrols, safety cameras and the Traffic Tactical Unit
- Identifying locations for drug and alcohol testing
SAPOL will establish a community and media education campaign to raise awareness of the new application.
Moreover, they will inform the public on what matters should be reported to police and by what medium such as the new Traffic Watch on-line reporting option, Crime Stoppers or social media.
