Cape Town danger areas

[MongooseMan]

I don't see the benefit of the RCT (I have the RTL). The RTL has lasted me 8 hour long rides, no issues. It's a massive win when you're doing a descent like Constantia Nek into Hout Bay, you can take the lane with confidence around the corners.

Folks riding with me also watch the light pattern and know that when it changes a car is approaching.

[MongooseMan]

A feature I don't really use much, but is fun to look at sometimes, is the ability to upload to https://www.mybiketraffic.com/ and see when vehicles passed me ,and how fast they were going.

In the image above, each green dot is a vehicle detected, which I can click on to see each detection of that vehicle, and how fast it was moving as it approached me (I've clicked on a taxi that buzzed me on my ride this morning as an example).

[DJR]

About Table Mountain safety:

I do not think that hundreds of unarmed rangers are needed to solve this crime problem. Yes, I will be happy if they have more visible patrolling, but all it will do is to displace the criminals, not find, arrest, prosecute and lock them up. They will just move elsewhere and before you know it the beaches or the other parks will have the same problem.  

So, how to do it?

I feel that a smaller well equipped team of dedicated "criminal hunters"with the skills to investigate, track, monitor, react quickly, do sting operations etc are needed. When a specific area is plagued by criminals, zoom in on them, catch them, remove them from the equasion. Then tackle the next problem etc. until it is well known that if you put a bad foot on the mountain, you will be hunted down and caught. Throw the skills AND the resources at it, but target the operation very specifically, as opposed to throwing a lot of poorly equipped and toothless rangers at it.

Also, I think one should distinguish the difference between theCape Point reserve where SANParks have good access control from the land side and Table Mountain where it is impossible .

My 2c 

 

[The Ouzo]

11 hours ago, MongooseMan said:

A feature I don't really use much, but is fun to look at sometimes, is the ability to upload to https://www.mybiketraffic.com/ and see when vehicles passed me ,and how fast they were going.

In the image above, each green dot is a vehicle detected, which I can click on to see each detection of that vehicle, and how fast it was moving as it approached me (I've clicked on a taxi that buzzed me on my ride this morning as an example).

and what do you do with this information ?

 

serious question, not trying to be funny or anything. I was thinking about it this morning on my ride. So now you have this info, how do you use it ?

[Hairy]

1 minute ago, The Ouzo said:

and what do you do with this information ?

 

serious question, not trying to be funny or anything. I was thinking about it this morning on my ride. So now you have this info, how do you use it ?

Interesting question.

Let's assume the worst happens and a rider using this system is hit from the rear by a speeding car.

You can then theoretically show an average km/h for users at that time period, and if the person who hit you was speeding you can show that this person was both speeding and driving recklessly compared to the general traffic?

Bigger scheme of things, if you can gather enough data for a certain area at various times and days you can then use this when planning roads or for town planners doing future works in the area.

Data can be gold in the right persons hands.

[The Ouzo]

9 minutes ago, Hairy said:

Interesting question.

Let's assume the worst happens and a rider using this system is hit from the rear by a speeding car.

You can then theoretically show an average km/h for users at that time period, and if the person who hit you was speeding you can show that this person was both speeding and driving recklessly compared to the general traffic?

Bigger scheme of things, if you can gather enough data for a certain area at various times and days you can then use this when planning roads or for town planners doing future works in the area.

Data can be gold in the right persons hands.

All great in theory, but we know in practice none of this can or will happen. 

Firstly chances are the driver wont even stop, so unless you have a newer varia with camera then you have no way of identifying the driver.

then the next hurdle is find someone in authority who is willing to use that info and do something about it.

[MongooseMan]

18 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

and what do you do with this information ?

 

serious question, not trying to be funny or anything. I was thinking about it this morning on my ride. So now you have this info, how do you use it ?

Absolutely nothing

I think the end goal for the site-owners is to aggregate all the info so you can get an idea of "safe" roads and "unsafe" roads, but we're nowhere near that right now.

[The Ouzo]

7 minutes ago, MongooseMan said:

Absolutely nothing

I think the end goal for the site-owners is to aggregate all the info so you can get an idea of "safe" roads and "unsafe" roads, but we're nowhere near that right now.

Thanks for being honest.

 

And if I'm totally honest, if I had a Varia I'd be using that site too. For nothing other than my own personal bemusement of data.

[MongooseMan]

3 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

Thanks for being honest.

 

And if I'm totally honest, if I had a Varia I'd be using that site too. For nothing other than my own personal bemusement of data.

Yup, in terms of reason to get a Varia, that's about number 97 on the list.

96 is probably another "useless" stat you get on your Garmin, which how many cars it has detected so far on the ride. Road: hundreds, gravel: tens

[Duane_Bosch]

1 hour ago, DJR said:

About Table Mountain safety:

I do not think that hundreds of unarmed rangers are needed to solve this crime problem. Yes, I will be happy if they have more visible patrolling, but all it will do is to displace the criminals, not find, arrest, prosecute and lock them up. They will just move elsewhere and before you know it the beaches or the other parks will have the same problem.  

So, how to do it?

I feel that a smaller well equipped team of dedicated "criminal hunters"with the skills to investigate, track, monitor, react quickly, do sting operations etc are needed. When a specific area is plagued by criminals, zoom in on them, catch them, remove them from the equasion. Then tackle the next problem etc. until it is well known that if you put a bad foot on the mountain, you will be hunted down and caught. Throw the skills AND the resources at it, but target the operation very specifically, as opposed to throwing a lot of poorly equipped and toothless rangers at it.

Also, I think one should distinguish the difference between theCape Point reserve where SANParks have good access control from the land side and Table Mountain where it is impossible .

My 2c 

 

100%.

A lot of lowlifes are starting to carry blank guns. There's no license needed, they make a very loud bang and to the untrained eye it's a gun. The worst part is if these okes are caught with them in a backpack for example there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING law enforcement can do. They have to literally be caught in the act committing a crime.

As a general comment we have to fight back. When my wife and I run/walk on the mountain we have a scary looking dog with us and i've got one of those "runners" pepper sprays in my hand ready to go. It's not much but we can't just surrender. If the guy has a gun then that obviously changes the dynamic.

Edited November 29, 2023 by Duane_Bosch

[droo]

1 hour ago, DJR said:

About Table Mountain safety:

I do not think that hundreds of unarmed rangers are needed to solve this crime problem. Yes, I will be happy if they have more visible patrolling, but all it will do is to displace the criminals, not find, arrest, prosecute and lock them up. They will just move elsewhere and before you know it the beaches or the other parks will have the same problem.  

So, how to do it?

I feel that a smaller well equipped team of dedicated "criminal hunters"with the skills to investigate, track, monitor, react quickly, do sting operations etc are needed. When a specific area is plagued by criminals, zoom in on them, catch them, remove them from the equasion. Then tackle the next problem etc. until it is well known that if you put a bad foot on the mountain, you will be hunted down and caught. Throw the skills AND the resources at it, but target the operation very specifically, as opposed to throwing a lot of poorly equipped and toothless rangers at it.

Also, I think one should distinguish the difference between theCape Point reserve where SANParks have good access control from the land side and Table Mountain where it is impossible .

My 2c 

 

Recces. 3 or 4 of them should be enough.

[nonky]

30 minutes ago, Duane_Bosch said:

100%.

A lot of lowlifes are starting to carry blank guns. There's no license needed, they make a very loud bang and to the untrained eye it's a gun. The worst part is if these okes are caught with them in a backpack for example there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING law enforcement can do. They have to literally be caught in the act committing a crime.

As a general comment we have to fight back. When my wife and I run/walk on the mountain we have a scary looking dog with us and i've got one of those "runners" pepper sprays in my hand ready to go. It's not much but we can't just surrender. If the guy has a gun then that obviously changes the dynamic.

I think that's a sound approach but, IIRC, the guy who pepper sprayed bikejackers in Pta East recently got shot three times for his efforts...that's the outcome that really sucks.

 

[Hairy]

16 minutes ago, droo said:

Recces. 3 or 4 of them should be enough.

Not even a bag of rekkies will be enough, and how will this help?

[Duane_Bosch]

17 minutes ago, droo said:

Recces. 3 or 4 of them should be enough.

The Recce's are all in their 50's and 60's. And 95% of the people who claim to have been Recce's are fking liars.

[wolver]

2 hours ago, DJR said:

About Table Mountain safety:

I do not think that hundreds of unarmed rangers are needed to solve this crime problem. Yes, I will be happy if they have more visible patrolling, but all it will do is to displace the criminals, not find, arrest, prosecute and lock them up. They will just move elsewhere and before you know it the beaches or the other parks will have the same problem.  

So, how to do it?

I feel that a smaller well equipped team of dedicated "criminal hunters"with the skills to investigate, track, monitor, react quickly, do sting operations etc are needed. When a specific area is plagued by criminals, zoom in on them, catch them, remove them from the equasion. Then tackle the next problem etc. until it is well known that if you put a bad foot on the mountain, you will be hunted down and caught. Throw the skills AND the resources at it, but target the operation very specifically, as opposed to throwing a lot of poorly equipped and toothless rangers at it.

Also, I think one should distinguish the difference between theCape Point reserve where SANParks have good access control from the land side and Table Mountain where it is impossible .

My 2c 

 

100%

A strategic response is what is needed. Everyone gets all happy about presence/visibility of the rangers but it's not solving the problem at all, a bit like putting a band-aid on a broken leg. I'm losing all hope rapidly😔

[Meezo]

2 hours ago, DJR said:

About Table Mountain safety:

I do not think that hundreds of unarmed rangers are needed to solve this crime problem. Yes, I will be happy if they have more visible patrolling, but all it will do is to displace the criminals, not find, arrest, prosecute and lock them up. They will just move elsewhere and before you know it the beaches or the other parks will have the same problem.  

So, how to do it?

I feel that a smaller well equipped team of dedicated "criminal hunters"with the skills to investigate, track, monitor, react quickly, do sting operations etc are needed. When a specific area is plagued by criminals, zoom in on them, catch them, remove them from the equasion. Then tackle the next problem etc. until it is well known that if you put a bad foot on the mountain, you will be hunted down and caught. Throw the skills AND the resources at it, but target the operation very specifically, as opposed to throwing a lot of poorly equipped and toothless rangers at it.

Also, I think one should distinguish the difference between theCape Point reserve where SANParks have good access control from the land side and Table Mountain where it is impossible .

My 2c 

 

I'll add my 2c , i met some of the rangers last year this time when the crime started picking up again. There are rangers, then there are law enforcement rangers. these are apparently trained rangers and armed... for those that know you can't just "get a gun" legally there is and although not a lot a minimum level on proficiency and competency required.

the same ranger told me, that most of the rangers are just there for the 9-5. i got him around 17:30 on table mountain with a pair of bino's. spent about 10-15 minutes talking to him, i could sense he was passionate not just about the mountain but about catching the *******. he may be 1 in 200 of their rangers but there's a glimmer of hope.

the thing that really gets me is just the mindfulness of 80-90% of the people i see daily on table mountain over and above that when there is "suspicious" activity nobody does anything...

i can tell that's most of the time, because whenever i report it i ask has anyone else reported it, the answer is no.

i'm also a believer of we need to be the eyes and ears SANParks and LE needs, our presence on the mountain helps a ton... this is also my plea as it gets lonely on the mountain this time of the year