As part of enhancing road safety and eradicating road accidents in all corners of Mpumalanga, five trailers were impounded by the Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison during the launching of Sekwanele Bopha Easter Arrive Alive campaign at Karino East of Nelspruit yesterday, 26 March 2013.
As part of the Launch a roadblock was conducted and 577 vehicles were stopped, 28 vehicles were discontinued, 107 summonses were issued for various offences and one government vehicle (Sedan) was also impounded. Passengers and drivers were also educated on road safety matters.
MEC Vusi Shongwe expressed concerns about vehicles that draw trailers, excessively overloaded vehicles especially during the holidays that are allowed to go through the province from other parts of the country. He said that the challenges need to be urgently addressed as it negatively affected the province’s efforts to reduce accidents.
Meanwhile over the weekend at least 3 309 fines were issued for various traffic offences during different operations that took place across the province.
The operations were part of the department’s traffic law enforcement activities. Roadblocks and rest stops are staged in different routes of the province and are expected to continue throughout the year as a means of reducing road carnages and crime in the province. 259 vehicles were also impounded while 173 were discontinued as they were not road worthy.
The MEC has further called on the province to continue with road safety campaigns throughout the year and not only during the holiday seasons, so that accidents could be reduced. He has also called on community members not to turn a blind eye when they experience reckless driving. Shongwe furthermore said that bad drivers would be fined and taken off the road.
“We need to work harder to eliminate the scourge of road carnage in order to restore communities’ faith in law enforcers. We cannot succeed on our own; we need communities to work with us by among others reporting bad driving and spread road safety messages."
Enquiries:
Joseph Mabuza
Cell: 082 678 1450
