North West Traffic Authorities have raised serious concern about the number of drunken drivers on provincial roads, more especially over the weekends. A concern was raised during the Jaws special operation over the weekend in Rustenburg where more than 17 people were arrested for the same offense.
Drunken driving is regarded as one of the major contributory factor of road accidents and fatalities in the country, followed by speed, fatigue, driver fitness and vehicle roadworthiness.
MEC for Human Settlements, Public Safety ad Liaison, Nono Maloyi calls traffic officials, not to show messy on drunken drivers as they are endangering the lives of other motorist. He further called on motorists to refrain from driving under the influence of alcohol.
“The high number of drunken drivers is a course for concern. This is too much and we can’t just let lawlessness on our roads. We can’t just let people turning innocent children to be orphans, wives to be widows and husbands to be widowers. Those who choose to drive under the influence do not respect other people’s lives. I have instructed traffic authorities not to be easy on them,” warns Maloyi.
MEC Maloyi further said that traffic Authorities will work 24 hours to make sure that those found on the road while under the influence are stopped before they cause another accident. According to Traffic Authorities more drunken driving cases are recorded from Thursdays towards the weekend.
Authorities have however vowed to focus on drunken driving, which they said will remain their priority project. They said that weekends will never be the same in targeted areas, as they realised that most cases are recorded as from Thursday until Sunday.
Enquiries:
Simon Lesolang Mmope, Acting Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 082 574 7621
Tel: 018 388 4826
Fax: 018 391 0328
E-mail: smmope@nwpg.gov.za
