Arrive Alive on Thursday said the Western Cape’s culture of substance abuse is one of the main factors fuelling the province’s high drunk driving rate.
The Transport Department’s latest national road statistics revealed that just over 1,000 motorists were detained for drunk driving during January with more than half coming from the Western Cape.
AA spokesperson Gary Roland said it is very worrying that driving drunk remained socially accepted in some instances.
“The quickest way we can address this is through very strict law enforcement. So if your risk of being caught is high, the chances are you are not going to do it,” he said.
Western Cape Transport Department spokesperson Solly Malatsi said the figures should be seen in a positive light.
“What it does show is that in the Western Cape all our efforts to take drunk drivers off our roads are working. We have increased the operations targeting drunk drivers so it is no surprise we are having more arrests,” he added.
The figures also showed in the last four months, over 5,000,000 vehicles were checked and about 2,000,000 fines issued across the country.
( Story by Themba Boyi, Edited by Lisa Bartlett appeared on Eyewitness News)