The Northern Cape Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison continues to receive a positive response from road users as it intensifies its traffic operations for a safer Northern Cape.
The weekend speed monitoring operations unfolding are aimed at achieving the United Nations (UN) declaration of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011, which aims to save lives by curbing the increasing trends in road traffic deaths and injuries world-wide through enforcing legislation on key risk factors: limiting speed, reducing drink-driving, and increasing the use of seatbelts, child restraints and motorcycle helmets.
Operations, which started at the beginning of the weekend, continue to unfold in various parts of the province, including on our national roads.
Vehicle and driver fitness formed part of the speed monitoring traffic operations, which aimed to promote and ensure a safer Northern Cape for all who live and travel in it. The traffic operations included alcohol testing, speed monitoring and weighbridge operations in areas like Britstown, Colesberg, Kimberley and Jan Kemp.
Most of the road users said they felt safe with the visibility of traffics and appreciated regularly seeing operations by our traffics.
Some long distance travellers who passed through the Province said the traffic operations showed that the Province was serious about road safety and ensuring safer roads.
Our traffic operations has so far recorded 72 fines, mainly for not complying with the speed limit, with the highest speed recorded on the N12 where two drivers were recorded driving at 149km in 120km zones in Britstown and Kimberley respectively, and another high speed was recorded on the R31 (Barkley West road) doing 112km in an 80km zone. There have been no recorded arrests.
With stats fluctuating as operations continue, there have been 554 vehicles that were stopped and checked.
Reflecting on the traffic operations, the Head of Department, Steven Jonkers said, “We are out in full force and we are determined to ensure the safety of our road users. We also took note of the great influx in the Province this weekend due to the Province’s popular festival: Gariep Fees, and took it into consideration as we planned our ongoing traffic operations.”
“These operation forms part of our 365 Days of Road Safety and soon we will launch our 365 Days of Road Safety campaign which will entail a number of operations and mechanisms to further boost our current intensified operations,” said Jonkers.
Jonkers added that, “We will not tolerate any misconduct that will compromise the safety of our road users and we call on the members of our community to join hands with the Province in realising this potential of a safer Northern Cape Province.”
We will soon communicate the consolidated weekend statistics following the conclusion of the weekend operations while normal traffic operations will continue as normal throughout the week.
Enquiries:
Keitumetse Moticoe, Communication Officer
Mobile: 074 251 6567
Tel: 053 839 1769
Email: kgmoticoe@gmail.com
