When private security identification lights are illegal in South Africa

South African road traffic authorities have warned South Africans about private vehicles using flashing lights that do not comply with national regulations.

Motorists have been told not to yield, move from a traffic lane, or be forced off the road by any vehicle displaying white flashing lights.

According to the National Road Traffic Act of 1996, private security companies are permitted to use identification lamps on their vehicles. However, these have to be diffused (non-flashing) lights.

Director of the KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate Victor Chetty states that, according to Regulation 176 of the Act, vehicles must be licensed and registered as a security vehicle to use white identification lights.

“Then it is authorised to have a white diffused bar light on top of the vehicle. Nothing else,” Chetty said in a government social media post.

He added that only the South African Police Service and traffic vehicles, as well as ambulances and fire trucks, may use flashing lights.

These vehicles are only authorised to activate the lights with due regard for the safety of other road users.

Pointing to a vehicle that had been stopped for having lights in excess of the single-bar light, he said that the driver, who claimed to own a private security company, had been suspended and prosecuted.

The South African government’s Justice, Crime Prevention and Security social media account clarified that the law does not regulate the mechanism of light used, but the function, with reference to modern LED technologies.

“Modern LED systems that flash, strobe, pulse, or simulate rotation perform the same warning and identification function as earlier mechanical beacons and are therefore subject to the same legal restrictions,” it said.

“The absence of explicit reference to LED technology does not exempt such systems from compliance.”

Chetty said that the same applies to vehicles such as trucks that use amber identification lights.

“For you to have an amber light on your private vehicle, you have to have a licensed and registered vehicle marked as a breakdown vehicle. Then you are authorised to have a diffused amber light,” he said.

Increase in private security services

Private security companies offer services such as armed response and control, private protection, property protection, and surveillance.

The Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSiRA) notes that there were 9,744 registered and active companies offering security services in 2020.

This number steadily climbed by about 1,000 for the following two years. However, the figure suddenly jumped from 11,540 in 2022 to 15,113 in 2023, signalling a significant increase in demand.

As of March 2024, 16,453 private security companies were operating in South Africa. This is more than double the number of active firms ten years prior — 8,144.

This rise in active companies has also seen an increase in private security officers from 548,642 to 608,977. While there are significantly more registered officers in South Africa, this figure refers to active ones.

According to PSiRA, there were 2,991,812 registered private security officers in the country in 2024.

“The private security sector has grown from a 50,000-man industry in 2001 to over 600,000 active security officers today. They outnumber the SAPS three to one,” Security Association of South Africa National Administrator Tony Botes told the SABC.