BARBERTON – As the festive season is in full swing, the MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Vusi Shongwe said he remains concerned about overloaded vehicles as they endanger the lives of other road users. Shongwe has called on law-enforcement officers to stop, impound and discontinue them if needs be.
His comments follow the impounding of a heavily overloaded light delivery vehicle that was also pulling an overloaded trailer.
The driver was charged with conveying goods that were not safely contained. He was further fined R1 000 and ordered to find an alternative for the transportation of his goods. Meanwhile, Mpumalanga traffic officers have stopped more than 50 000 vehicles between December 2 and 8 last week in their normal day to day operations.
The officers discontinued 103 light vehicles, 22 minibuses, and 64 other vehicles for being unroadworthy. A further 332 were also impounded, which included two buses and 29 minibuses.
Shongwe has called on motorists to ensure that they do not overload their vehicles as this affects the performance. “Overloading remains a challenge as it does not only damage our roads, but also contributes to some of the accidents,” he said.
He has also called on taxi and bus operators to ensure that they do not place profits above human lives by ensuring their vehicles are roadworthy and that their drivers are fit to drive. He said motorists must continue to prioritise their lives and that of other road users and drive with due consideration of all traffic regulations.
“Traffic officers will be deployed on all major roads 24 hours a day throughout the festive season to deal with any notoriety and to ensure that no reckless and negligent driving will be tolerated.”
