This is a popular notion and many people assume the current emphasis on traffic policing is current government policy. In fact, since 1989 traffic policing and road safety education have been funded from the National Land Transport Fund with the amount of funding determined by the National Road Safety Committee each year.

The legislation governing the use of roading revenue states that any roading revenue not spent on road safety enforcement and education must be spent on land transport. Therefore, any reduction in traffic policing will not provide any extra money for criminal policing. Thus, any politician who promises to order the police to focus on crime enforcement needs to explain where the money will come from.