The death of three people during Sunday night’s racing in Pretoria North has again highlighted the extreme dangers of dicing, dragging and racing on public roads. Every year a number of participants and/or spectators are killed when individuals use private cars on public roads as racing venues. This happens around the country and law enforcement agencies are concerned about the increase in these activities.
The race meetings on Voortrekker Road, Gezina in Pretoria are well known to the authorities and a number of sting operations in the past have seen these races merely being moved from one place to another or being cooled off for a while, only to resurface later. “This is a game of cat-and-mouse. These guys in their highly-tuned vehicles using illegal, go-fast substances such as nitrous oxide, attract huge crowds, including women and children and have braais and drink openly in public. The race meetings are highly organised and involve betting and large sums of prize money said,” Mr Collins Letsoalo, Acting CEO of the Road Traffic Management Corporation.
“We are on to them and will continue to close them down as we did in Midrand and Randburg. We have joined forces with a number of agencies including Provincial Traffic, Metro Police, the South African Police Service and Military police to thwart them,” he added.
The newly-launched National Traffic Intervention Unit will also be drawn into this project as a tactical response while the Department of Justice and Asset Forfeiture Unit will be incorporated to see how illegal racer’s vehicles can be impounded. “We need to deal with this cancer comprehensively and decisively. We cannot continue to utilise scarce resources chasing after a bunch of spoilt and arrogant hooligans who misbehave and endanger their own lives and the lives of innocent people. We also want to condemn communities who are in support and participating in this kind of race meetings. We need to take back our streets and save these chaps from themselves,” said the Acting CEO.
Also on the radar of traffic authorities are drunken super-bikers who travel at high speeds, overtaking on barrier lines, with no registration plates and generally behaving badly.
The public is requested to report any racing activity to 071 680 3448. All tip-offs will be treated confidentially.
Enquiries:
Ashref Ismail
Cell: 071 680 3448
Tel: 087 310 8200
