President Cyril Ramaphosa says harsh interventions will be taken to curb drunken driving. He was speaking at the launch of the October Transport Month campaign on the N3 Highway in Heidleberg.
Ramaphosa has decried the vast human and economic cost of fatal crashes on the country’s roads.
He says approximately 14 000 people are killed and more than R140 billion is lost annually.
Ramaphosa has vowed that lawlessness will no longer be tolerated and, amongst other interventions, the government will soon bring down the legal threshold of blood alcohol for drivers.
“We are going to change the law now to make sure that we actually bring down the threshold so that those who are used to drinking and driving will know that now we are going to be very firm. We are going to take strong action because it is people who drink and drive who kill people and we must stop the killing on our roads through people who are drinking and driving.”
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Meanwhile, Limpopo Transport MEC Namane Masemola says driving under the influence of alcohol remains a major contributor to the escalating cases of road fatalities.
Three drivers were arrested earlier on Saturday for drinking and driving at a roadblock at Tshehleneng village outside Jane Furse.
Several others were given fines for traffic offences including driving with expired licenses and discs. M
asemola has condemned the behaviour.
“First car that we stopped, the man’s license expired a long time ago. The temporary license that he has had also expired some three months ago, over and above that the very sad thing is that the man is drunk. The second car that we stopped is the same thing; the driver is drunk. The third car, the driver is drunk. They are on the roads of the province and these are things that are really causing a lot of problems and accidents because under influence of liquor you can never be normal and drive quiet properly. This is totally unacceptable.”
Motorists say the visibility of traffic officers should be increased to deal with offenders.
