The KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Mr. Willies Mchunu, has hailed the no-nonsense enforcement operations by traffic agencies who have so far arrested more than 337 motorists for drinking and driving, and have vowed to embark on an aggressive crackdown on New Year’s Eve.
This high number of arrests has been achieved since the 1st of December 2015 to date. It is through multi–disciplinary road blocks and random stop and check of vehicles on highways that continues to yield positive results.
Among those arrested for drinking and driving are taxi drivers, who were caught with their vehicles full of passengers. As part of the extensive, intensive and sustainable law enforcement operations for the festive season, traffic police will be out in full force today and are preparing for a massive crackdown tomorrow, which is New Year’s Eve.
“We are going for a complete crackdown on drinking and driving on New Year’s Eve. That our integrated law enforcement team have arrested well more than 330 drivers who risk people’s lives by drinking and driving is a clear demonstration that traffic offenders will be meted out with the harshest treatment especially on New Year’s Eve. We urge everyone not to drink and drive or they must have sober, designated drivers if they choose to drink and take trips. Those who will violate the law will spend New Year’s Eve and possibly the entire weekend in police cells. Experience has shown that most accidents happen overnight and in the early hours of the morning when most people are coming from parties and other social gatherings. To deal with this reality we will be staging 24-hour law enforcement operations in strategic spots,” said MEC Mchunu.
Since the beginning of December, more than 177 000 vehicles have been stopped and checked across the province.
So far more than 180 crashes have been reported and an estimated more than 200 people have lost their lives since the beginning pf December. Even though it is still early to conclude, the current figures are showing a dramatic decrease in both the fatalities and crashes compared to the previous years.
MEC Mchunu has further expressed concern that more than 3299 people have been driving without driver licences, saying only eligible licence holders are qualified to be on road and those taking chances have no place on our roads.
“We wish to register our disappointment at the fact that people continue to lose their lives on our roads. We, however, commend the good work by law enforcement agencies who have gone out of their way to save lives of innocent people by arresting those errant drivers who have no regard for human life. We are aware that the holiday on the 1st of January 2016, will see people going to beaches, and therefore urge them to behave and refrain from over-loading. Our view as government is that if we all work together, take responsibility for our actions and behave on the road, we will save thousands of lives each year,” concludes Mchunu.