More than 6,000 un-roadworthy passenger and freight vehicles were taken off South Africa’s roads last month.
As part of October Transport Month, 6,336 un-roadworthy public transport and freight vehicles were taken off the roads, with the majority of 1,821 buses, mini-buses and trucks removed in the Mpumalanga province. More than 46,402 fines were issued to public transport and freight drivers, and 1,460 public transport and truck drivers arrested including 196 for drunk driving, 25 for excessive speed, eight for reckless and/or negligent driving, 877 for overloading, 73 for false documents and 281 for other offences.
Meanwhile, three motorists appeared in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court in Gauteng this morning (2 November 2011) and were fined R25, 000, R18,000 and R15,000 respectively for speeding. According to Gauteng Traffic Police, these drivers were arrested for travelling at speeds of 217km/h, 207km/h and 195km/h in a 120km/h zone.
Further, at least four motorists have been arrested over the past four days in Gauteng (28 October to 1 November) for bribing traffic officers. The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has reported that two motorists were arrested yesterday (1 November) by officers from the National Traffic Police (NTP) for offering traffic officers a R50 bribe. One was arrested at Alexandra and the other at Midrand in Johannesburg. These arrests follow the arrests of two motorists over the week-end who offered traffic officers a R40 and R20 bribe.
On Saturday (29 October), a driver was arrested for offering members of the NTP a R40 bribe for overloading in Johannesburg. On Friday (28 October), members of the NTP arrested a Mozambican national on the Golden Highway in Johannesburg who offered them a R20 bribe for not being in possession of a valid driving licence. On 16 October 2011, a traffic officer from the NTP was arrested in Pretoria East for accepting a R100 bribe from a motorist. The motorist was also arrested for bribing the traffic officer.
More than 2,600 public transport drivers have been arrested across the country over the past two months (September and October 2011), as part of pre-December holiday traffic law enforcement operations and following Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele's instruction that every bus and taxi must be stopped and checked.
From 31 August to 30 October 2011, 623,469 public transport vehicles were stopped and checked; 2,207 mini-buses, 885 buses and 1,699 trucks discontinued from use for being in an un-roadworthy condition; 93,945 fines issued for various public transport offences; more than 2,653 public transport drivers arrested including 371 for drunk driving, 1,947 for overloading, 91 for excessive speed, 28 for reckless and/or negligent driving and 154 in connection with public transport permits.
As part of the new National Rolling Enforcement Plan (NREP) announced by Minister Ndebele on 10 September 2010, from October 2010 to September 2011, 14,017,190 vehicles and drivers were checked, 5,978,981 fines issued for various traffic offences, 19,780 drunk drivers arrested and 53,341 un-roadworthy vehicles (the majority of which are buses and taxis) discontinued from use.
Minister Ndebele has once again called upon all South Africans to work together to fight road deaths. “This Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011 to 2020 aims to reduce road traffic fatalities by half by 2020. Every year, more than 14 000 people die on our roads, costing our economy more than R60 billion per annum. This calls for all sectors of society to work hand in hand in fighting these unnecessary deaths on our roads.”
Report bad driving to 0861 400 800.
Enquiries:
Ashref Ismail (RTMC)
Cell: 071 680 3448
Logan Maistry
Ministry of Transport
Cell: 083 644 4050
