Cape Town motorists banned from using mobile phones

Cape Town motorists caught talking or texting on their mobile phones will be fined R500 and have their phones confiscated for 24 hours.

The new bylaw came into effect on 2 July and forms part of the provincial road safety campaign to halve road deaths by 2014.

Cape Town is the only city in South Africa where the road death toll was steadily decreasing, from 1,739 deaths in 2008 to 1,321 in 2011, according to safety and security mayoral committee member JP Smith.

Confiscated mobile phones can be collected at the Gallows Hill traffic department in Green Point.