JOHANNESBURG, December 22 (ANA)- Traffic officers have stopped and checked more than 500,000 vehicles across the country so far this festive season, with 1200 drivers having been arrested for drunk driving, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) said on Tuesday.
“Ten thousand people were fined for driving without licences or failing to produce a driver’s licence. At least 8000 were charged for failing to wear seat belts, more than 10 000 vehicles were found to be unroadworthy,” RTMC chief executive Makhosini Msibi told reporters in Johannesburg.
Msibi was unable to provide the preliminary December road death statistics as they were still being verified.
“We need to validate and confirm the numbers and are taking a different route this year because we want to ensure the numbers are consolidated and verified,” he said.
“They will be made available as soon as they are available.”
Msibi added that officers were vigilant and would arrest anyone who placed the lives of other road users in danger. Motorists would be arrested for certain violations and vehicles impounded instead of being issued with a fine, he said.
With Christmas falling over the weekend and many travelers expected to be on the roads, traffic authorities will take a “no nonsense approach”, said Msibi.
“Our drivers know that we will issue a fine to an offence…well, the party is over. The attitude and arrogance of our drivers on the roads needs to end. South African drivers are arrogant, impatient and do not take into consideration other road users,” he said.
“In the past 21 days, we have continued to observe unacceptable and irresponsible behaviour by road users. People have been driving at excessive speeds, driving drunk. We have also observed many passengers who do not wear seat belts and pedestrians crossing highways and busy roads.”
Last year, most road accidents and deaths occurred in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo. At least 1587 died on the country’s roads during the festive season period, said Msibi.
He said mobile testing stations would be checking for suspicious vehicles in an attempt to stamp out unroadworthy vehicles. These vehicles would immediately be impounded, licence disks removed, and their drivers would be arrested.
