THERE is heightened awareness on road safety during the festive season and stringent measures are being taken by the police to keep road users and the general public safe.
“With this in mind, the public are cautioned against posting police activities on social media which can hamper and interfere with the execution of duty especially the occurrences of roadblocks,” said Malvern SAPS communications officer, W/O Radhika Marimuthu.
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According to W/O Radhika Marimuthu, precedents in South African law have indicated that it does not require a person to be the originator of the content to be held liable – merely repeating or sharing a post is sufficient.
“A person may be equally liable for another person’s posts where that person knows that they have been tagged in the other person’s post and allows their name to be used, and fails to take steps to disassociate themselves from that post.
“In this sense it is very important to note that the potential for legal liability doesn’t only apply to the person who initially made the statement but also to the person who posts and forwards it, said W/O Radhika Marimuthu.
South African law also states that every person who forms part of the chain of publication of a statement can be sued or held responsible for the content contained in a statement.
It is therefore possible to hold a person responsible for re-publishing, sharing or re-tweeting any statement which they know or may reasonably know which is not supposed to be posted on social media.
“It must also be borne in mind that there are innocent road users who succumb to road accidents because of drivers who disregard the law and drive while under the influence of alcohol . Vagrant social media posters who defy the law and forward post of road blocks are not doing any favours to road users. Instead this is creating a culture of defiance and disrespect to the execution of the law,” added W/O Marimuthu.
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Lt Col Valarine Reddy Station Commander of SAPS Malvern said blood-alcohol levels may not have an alcohol content of more than 0.05 per cent.
If you have more than 350ml of beer or if you have more than a single tot of spirits or other alcohol, you may already be over the limit. She further said these levels of alcohol remain in your system for up to eight hours after consumption.
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