Mbabula preaches road safety in Soweto as unsafe cars get impounded

Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, was in Soweto on Thursday to preach festive road safety.

The campaign forms part of the intensified 365 Days Arrive Alive campaign.

Among the main pillars of the intensified road safety campaign for the festive season period are:

• No drinking and driving
• Always buckle up
• Opt for daytime driving
• Ensure vehicle roadworthiness
• Pedestrian visibility

We are now going to move around Gauteng preaching the message of road safety.

THANK YOU MAPONYA MALL #LiveBeyondDezemba pic.twitter.com/Nv8iioLxZy

— Minister of Transport |Mr Fix (@MbalulaFikile) December 17, 2020

HALALA SOWETO HALALA

Wear your masks

DONT drink and drive #LiveBeyondDezemba pic.twitter.com/JstBtvQgf5

— Minister of Transport |Mr Fix (@MbalulaFikile) December 17, 2020

Traffic law enforcement officers are also stepping up the campaign to remove unsafe vehicles from the roads ahead of the peak festive season travel.

According to Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) spokesperson Simon Zwane, more than 1800 vehicles have been removed from the roads for being operated on public roads with major defects that placed the lives of other road users at risk.

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An additional 1465 public transport vehicles have been impounded for operating contrary to their permits and overloading.

Some of the major defects identified in the vehicles included faulty brakes, dysfunctional steering racks, worn tyres and cracked windscreens. The owners of the vehicles have to fix the defects and subject the cars to roadworthy tests before operating them on public roads again.

“Motorists are warned that they risk discontinuation of their vehicles if they have modified the vehicles contrary to manufacturers’ specifications,” Zwane said.

“Vehicle roadworthiness has been identified as a key area of focus in this year’s festive season road safety campaign.”

Last year, vehicles’ roadworthiness was a factor in 7% of fatal crashes over the festive season, Zwane said.

“To assist law enforcement agencies to deal this matter, the RTMC has purchased 19 mobile vehicle testing stations and distributed it in different provinces to assist in identifying vehicles that are unfit to be operated on public roads.

“The RTMC reiterates its call to motorists to fix their vehicles before embarking on their journeys and avoid overloading to reduce the number of people dying in road crashes,” Zwane said.

Additional reporting by News24 Wire. 

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