Transport Dept acquires new fleet of vans
The Department of Transport has procured a new fleet of 36 vans that are to be used to deal with non-compliance by motorists.
The vans were unveiled at the launch of the 2021 Easter Road Safety Arrive Alive campaign in Polokwane on Friday, 26 March.
Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya says they noted that motorists are deliberately ignoring written traffic notices as there was no risk of being arrested on the spot due to police vans being occupied at the stations.
The new fleet of vans will enable traffic officers to arrest and detain anyone found breaking the rules of the road on the spot.
“We can no longer tolerate the intentional disregard of the law by our people. The vans are specifically procured to arrest defiant motorists on the spot upon discovering that they have outstanding fines. We are anticipating maximum compliance from all the road users and we hope they will also work with us to ensure that we achieve a zero fatal Easter holidays.”
Lerule-Ramakhanya has also announced the rollout of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (Aarto) programme, which will soon be implement in the province as alluded by Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula.
Aarto is basically the implementation of a credit and demerit system by the department against licence holders and any transgressions against them and operations have already started in all the districts of the province and visibility will be heightened.
She says focus will be on the N1 between Bela-Bela and Musina as the department anticipates thousands of motorists to use the road from the end of next week.
The R71 between Polokwane and Tzaneen is another hotspot for accidents and it will also be given the necessary attention.
“Let us work together and preach the gospel of compliance and good behaviour on our roads during this festive season. We are still under lockdown level 1 and therefore call on our people to restrain from unnecessary trips. Let us remain vigilant and alive to the fact that Covid-19 is still with us. Our behaviour will determine if we continue pushing back the numbers or jump to the third wave.”
