Traffic law enforcement authorities are set to go out on a massive drive from 13 May to deal with lawlessness on the roads in a bid to reduce car crashes, injuries and deaths on Gauteng roads.
The clampdown, code-named, Operation Ke Molao, meaning ‘it’s the law’, will target all hazardous routes and behaviours that result in preventable road collisions. Officers will be out in full force in all the metros and municipalities and there will be zero tolerance.
Commuters are urged to exercise patience during this period as the clampdown might cause traffic delays on some routes. The operation is intended to save lives.
Operations kicked of earlier this morning on Main Road in Bryanston where a massive police presence can be seen, pulling off vehicles and doing the necessary checks.
View images from the operation on Main Road below:
Driving in yellow lanes, reckless and negligent driving and vehicle unroadworthiness will be severely punished as authorities seek to make Gauteng roads safe to travel for all road users. Offending drivers will be immediately arrested and charged and vehicles that are not fit to be on the road will be impounded.
A five-year statistical analysis by the Road Traffic Management Corporation has shown that crashes tend to increase in the month of May. Most crashes happen between Friday and Monday.
Statistics also indicate that there has been an increase in the number of unroadworthy vehicles on Gauteng roads from 229 064 in June 2014 to 236 572 in June last year.
The Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Community Safety, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane last week called a meeting in which she warned public transport operators to expect zero tolerance on the roads as the authorities were no longer prepared to accept recklessness and the disregard of road rules.
Nkosi-Malobane also warned operators to take responsibility to ensure driver and vehicle fitness. “This is provided in Section 49 of the Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996. What I have observed is that most of them turn a blind eye on this provision and that puts the lives of the passengers at risk,” the MEC warned at the time.
Statistics shared at the meeting indicated that 857 people had died on Gauteng roads since 2013 in taxi-related accidents.
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