MBOMBELA – The Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison traffic officers have arrested at least 60 motorists for various traffic offences between 19 and 25 May 2014 during various operations that took place across the province.
The traffic offences include overloading, speeding and drunken driving.
Most of these motorists who were arrested failed to pay traffic fines. Some of them failed to appear in court on the dates of trial to account for their offences.
The traffic officers also issued 5 095 fines for various traffic offences. 315 vehicles were also impounded while 179 were discontinued as they were not road worthy.
From these figures, there were nine mini buses that were discontinued for being unroadworthiness. The operations saw 58 836 vehicles
being stopped and checked. This is part of improving road safety and reducing crime.
Head of Department, Mr William Mthombothi applauded the traffic officials and the police for the role that they continue to play in ensuring that bad driving is prevented and the roads are safer.
He calls on community members not to turn a blind eye when they experience reckless driving or are witnessing crime in their areas.
“We need to continue working together in order to reduce fatalities on all our roads in the Province. It is our responsibility as a department to enhance road safety at all times. We can only achieve this through fighting against bad driver behavior and non-compliance.
“We cannot succeed on our own; we need communities to work with us by among others reporting crime, bad driving and spread road safety messages. Road users are warned to obey traffic regulations on our roads to ensure that there is a reduction of crashes in the province,” Mthombothi concluded.
