4X4’S BANNED ON BEACHES

Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

6 June 2001

The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has announced draft regulations to control the off-road use of vehicles for recreational purposes on the coast. These regulations were published and advertised in the Government Gazette on the 29 May 2001. The ANNOUNCEMENT included details regarding the submission of comments.

The purposed of the proposed regulations is to provide national legislation in the interest of the environment, human safety and the enjoyment derived from coastal recreation. All factors are important in promoting coastal tourism, which contributes significantly to the economies of villages and town on the South African coast.

The draft regulations propose a general ban on off-road use of vehicles on the coast for recreational purposes.

• It is proposed that the regulations provide for the use of vehicles in demarcated areas for boat launching only, subject to environmental impact assessments.
• It is recommended that handicapped persons not be exempted from the requirements imposed by the regulations.
• In order to address the problem of inadequate law enforcement, the regulations provide for severe penalties.
• The promulgation of the regulations will have significant positive implications.

These regulations do not apply to the use of vehicles:

• For official purposes by employees of the state;
• Engaged in bona fide emergency or rescue situations;
• On a public road;
• For official purposes within proclaimed harbours.

The regulations allow applications to be made to use vehicles for:

• Boat launching within demarcated sites;
• Certain scientific research purposes; and
• Certain non-recreational activities permitted in terms of fisheries legislation, such as the harvesting of seaweed.

National legislation for controlling off-road vehicles on the coast already exists in the form of a National Policy, which was proclaimed in terms of Environment Conservation Act 73 of 1989, in 1994.

However, this Policy has several significant shortcomings. The Policy must be given legal effect by regulations promulgated by local authorities. Many local authorities have not promulgated the necessary regulations.

The Policy also requires local authorities to introduce a permit system to ensure the vehicles are adequately controlled in demarcated areas. However, this requirement is too vague. While permits issued by some local authorities stipulate comprehensive requirements with which the vehicle user must comply, permits issued by others are nothing more than a receipt acknowledging payment to the local authority concerned.

Regarding law enforcement, the penalties imposed by local authorities for illegal beach driving are usually insufficient to deter transgressors.

Although several local authorities have made a concerted attempt to implement the Policy in their areas of jurisdiction, most local authorities have not complied adequately with the Policy’s requirements.

All these factors clearly indicate the need for a national set of regulations for controlling the recreational use of vehicles on all the country’s beaches.

The proposed regulations will make provision for severe penalties, including the confiscation of vehicles. Although policing a ban will be difficult, various avenues are available to ensure that this is not an impossible task.. One of these will involve promoting public involvement in monitoring the use of our beaches and reporting transgressors.

The use of vehicles for recreational purposes on the coast in increasing. This use is increasingly damaging coastal ecosystems and historical sites, and diminishing the quality of the recreational experience of the general public. This diminishes the value of the coast, a vitally important national asset.

• Coastal land-forms which are particularly vulnerable to vehicle traffic include dunes, salt marshes and estuarine sand and mud flats. Driving on dunes causes them to sag, creating blow out, which will become a bare area, and no longer provide a bufferriving on dune vegetation destroys the foredunes. This is the area were many birds nest.
• Birds and turtles are also vulnerable. The Damara Tern and the African Black Oystercatcher, are both listed as threatened species, they both nest in the foredunes. Nesting just above the high water mark, the nest and eggs are highly vulnerable to vehis. If the tyres don’t crush the eggs, the adult birds are disturbed and leave the nest. Leaving the eggs unprotected. Turtles hatchlings must get from the dunes down to the sea, hatchlings get themselves trapped in the deep tread indents left by 4x4’s on the sand. Unable to climb out, they die.
• Historical sites are being destroyed. Driving on shell middons, generally referred to as shell deposits, is destroying prehistoric dumping sites of coastal civilisation, providing scientists with information from as far back as 120 000 years.

In a 1997 report conducted by Cape Nature Conservation and the University of Cape Town into the African Black Oystercatcher ‘s breeding patterns, disturbing patterns were revealed.

On the West Coast the bird’s breeding success was 15 percent of that needed to maintain a stable population. On 60 km of the Eastern Cape Coast there was no evidence of successful breeding at all.

The alarming correlation between a decrease in the Oystercatchers’ breeding success and the increase in the sales of four-wheel drive vehicles in South Africa could not be ignored.

The Constitution requires government to protect the environment. The National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998, further require government to give specific attention to sensitive and highly dynamic coastal ecosystems. These regulations therefore reflect the obligations imposed on government by the Constitution and subordinate legislation. They will help ensure that our coast remain a valuable asset which is managed in the long-term public interest.

Contact Details: Dr Niel Malan, Deputy Director Coastal Management,
0825749807.

Full text of Regulations