A 32 year-old male driver was arrested for drunken driving on the N4 Bakwena Platinum Highway in the North West Province on Saturday morning. The driver will spend the weekend behind bars and is expected to appear at the Swartruggens Magistrates Court on Monday to answer to charges of drunken driving.
The driver was allegedly arrested after a breathalyser test administered on him at a roving roadblock near the N4/R509 Swartruggens-Koster intersection confirmed that he was 0,14 milligrams (mg) above the 0,24 mg per 1 000 mililitres permissible breath alcohol content limit.
He was transporting prefabricated iron shacks from Rustenburg to Borolelo township in Swartruggens on a Toyota light delivery van with two other passengers when he was stopped by traffic officers from the North West Provincial Road Traffic Management Unit at a roving roadblock at around 09h30 am.
Sixty-five motorists were screened for alcohol at the roving roadblock which is part of Operation Futha, a special operation roving roadblock that focuses on drunken driving. The operation is part of National Rolling Enforcement Plan and the Make Roads Safe campaign aimed at reducing road accidents by half.
North West MEC for Human Settlements, Public Safety and Liaison, Desbo Mohono says that drunken driving accounts for half of the road deaths on public roads in South Africa as alcohol slows down driver reaction time and distort vision.
MEC Mohono confirmed that drunken driving operations are to be intensified across all roads in her province ahead of the Easter Long weekend in order to reduce road crashes and fatalities.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Spokesperson - North West Department of Human Settlements, Public Safety and Liaison
Tel: 018 381 9171
Fax: 018 381 9123
Cell: 083 629 1987
E-mail: Lkgwele@nwpg.gov.za
North West motorist arrested for drunken driving
Province
