High-flying motorist busted doing 238km/h

The Gauteng Traffic Police’s high speed unit arrested a man for travelling at 238km/h just outside of Pretoria near the Murrayhill off-ramp this weekend.

“The speedster was caught in his Mercedes-Benz driving at an average speed of 238km/h in a prescribed maximum limit of 120km per hour,” said Gauteng department of community safety spokesperson Ofentse Morwane.

“The self-employed man claims he was late for a funeral in Limpopo.”

AA spokesperson Layton Beard said there was no excuse.

“We constantly have a message of speed kills. When you look at the fatality statistics on our roads, this type of thing speaks to that type of behaviour.

“Clearly this person has no regard for his own safety and also no regard for the safety of any other people on the road,” Beard said.

“If he was involved in a crash at that speed with someone who was obeying the law by driving within the speed limit, the consequences could have been catastrophic.”

Beard said even when hitting someone while driving at “only” 60kmh, the consequences were severe.

“It’s just multiplied at that speed. It’s extremely reckless, and an absolute disgrace. Whatever excuse is given is not good enough.”

The speedster was taken to the Hammanskraal Police Station where he was formally charged with reckless driving, and an alternative charge of exceeding the prescribed speed limit of 120km/h on a freeway.

The man is expected to appear in the Pretoria North Magistrate Court this coming week. According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s 2017 State of Road Safety Report, 14 050 fatalities – mostly pedestrians and passengers in vehicles – were killed on SA’s roads.

The RTMC also reported a 43% increase (from 3 423 to 5 984) in 2017 of speed arrests, mostly in Gauteng and the Free State. Over the Easter weekend this year, 510 people died in collisions between March 29 to April 9.

This represents a big 14% increase when compared to the 449 fatalities in the same period last year.

Last week, nine people died on Limpopo’s roads, six of whom were killed in one accident on Saturday.

Up to 20 people were reported by Netcare 911 as injured on KwaZulu-Natal roads. Two more were injured in Blouberg in the Western Cape.

According to ER24, two people died in separate hit and runs, while another eight were seriously injured in incidents around the country.

– amandaw@citizen.co.za