MBOMBELA- Negligent drivers constantly affect those that have respect for the rules of the roads.
“They are inflicting pain and suffering on families who lose their loved ones and
breadwinners due to needless road crashes resulting from their reckless and negligent behavior,” states a media release from the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison.
According to the release the MEC Vusi Shongwe made these remarks after a report on the drivers that were stopped and arrested for excessive speeding on the road during traffic operations that were staged across the province last week.
He discouraged the tendency of careless driving merely because it has the potential of causing serious injuries and death to good drivers.
Shongwe has made a clarion call on the private sector, civil society, and the broader community to collectively work with government in educating young people about the dangers of not obeying road rules particularly excessive speeding. The MEC emphasized on young people because amongst the 19 arrested drivers, was a 22-year old man arrested for driving 207km/h on the N3 road on May 7.He was later released on R1500 bail.
Shongwe condemned this behavior by the young driver stating that it is irresponsible and mischievous. He argued that such behavior on the road should be avoided at all times and that perpetrators must be receive maximum permissible sentences if found guilty.
Meanwhile, traffic officers issued 5266 fines for offences ranging from speeding, failure to obey traffic rules, driving without proper documentation to driving a vehicle with defects. 51602 vehicles were stopped and tested during the same operations.
Amongst others 172 vehicles were discontinued while 213 were impounded for not being roadworthy. 18 other people were arrested for various offences ranging from excessive speeding and warrants for outstanding traffic summonses. The operations were conducted from 1 to 10 May 2015.
Shongwe again commended the traffic officers saying they should not be discouraged by few individuals who continue to break traffic regulations. He said the officers must not leave any stone unturned in pursuance of mischief makers on our roads so that we save more lives.
“We must create an environment where motorists will fear to commit offences; in this way, we will have fewer crashes on our roads caused due to human error,” he said.
The MEC has once more reiterated his call to road users to respect traffic rules and other road users. He still maintains that communities must also play their part by reporting bad driving to authorities so that action is taken against wrong doers.
