14 DRIVERS BUST FOR VARIOUS OFFENSES

14 DRIVERS BUST FOR VARIOUS OFFENSES

By BRIAN KAJENGO

New bloom sweeps clean. Sometimes this saying of the elders is true.

The arrival of William Mthombothi as the new head of the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison shows a lot of improvent.

The presence of law enforcement officers remains one of the key ingredients to enhancing safer driving which often yields in reduced road crashes; this is according to Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison HOD, William Mthombothi who was responding to successes yielded by last week’s operations across various roads in the province.

The operations, which were conducted from 12 to 18 May 2014, saw 14 drivers being arrested for various offences which included drunk driving, excessive speeding, negligent and reckless driving and other violations. Mthombothi says these statistics indicate that government remains committed to dealing with those who break the law on the road.

“A general indication is that motorists behave when they see traffic officers or other law enforcement agencies. Although we cannot deploy traffic officers everywhere, problematic roads should remain a priority especially on weekends.

We will eventually win this battle of crashes and irresponsible driver behavior. We are also appealing to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to speedily prosecute traffic violations’ suspects and also those who are convicted face full consequences of their actions,” says Mthombothi.

At least 172 vehicles were discontinued while 285 were impounded. These vehicles include, light motor vehicles, busses and mini busses. Some of the vehicles were impounded due to overloading, worn out tyres and falsified documentation.

Mthombothi applauded the traffic officers saying that these are the same vehicles that pose danger and lead to fatal crashes on our roads. He has further encouraged them to continue working to bringing an end to needless injuries and unnecessary loss of lives on the road.

He has also called on community members to assist government by reporting bad driving to authorities so that appropriate actions are taken against those who are not complying with traffic regulations.