The commitment that was displayed through the work of traffic officers to deal with reckless driving should be commended because it will go a long way towards changing bad driver behaviour.
This is according to Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC Mr Vusi Shongwe after the increase in the number of motorists arrested in the province during the last transport month (October 2015).
From October 1 till 31, the traffic officers arrested 290 motorists for a variety of offences that include overloading, producing of false documentation, speeding excessively and overtaking on barrier lines.
There were 21 offenders which included 21 motorists suspected for driving under the influence of alcohol and 18 people were also caught for excessive speed.
This indicates that the province is becoming intolerant of bad driver behaviour and the MEC believes the province is ready to handle more motorists during the festive season.
He asserts that traffic officers managed to work hard during transport month. He has encouraged them to continue to work harder and not only in October.
As part of improving road safety, the traffic officers impounded 889 vehicles and discontinued 907 which included buses and Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) in September.
For the month of October, the officers also issued 25 809 traffic fines to motorists for violating traffic regulations while in September there were 21 053 traffic notices and fines issued.
MEC Shongwe has also thanked motorists for showing respect to the rules of the road saying they should continue to drive in a manner that will keep them safe at all times. He has also encouraged them to carry on with the same vigour in order to impact positively on government’s road safety initiatives.
Shongwe commends the traffic officers saying that was it not for their efforts, the picture could have been worse as the province recorded 540 road crashes in October alone and the crashes resulted in 103 people losing their lives.
He adds:
“Such operations should be the order of the day and those who break the law should not escape but should instead be brought to book to face the consequences of their actions. We should create an environment where motorists will fear to commit an offence; in this way, we will have fewer crashes on the roads caused due to human error.”
