Over 250 motorists arrested for violating traffic rules in Mpumalanga

Over 250 motorists arrested for violating traffic rules in Mpumalanga

Brian kajengo  

The culture of disregard for traffic violations need to be curbed in order to address road safety in the province. Those who drive recklessly and negligently often endangers the lives of other road users hence the province has experienced major crashes last month.

Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC Vusi Shongwe has therefore welcomed the arrest of 259 motorists for various offences in June for offences  from overloading, excessive speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to pay traffic fines or appear in court. Other motorists were also nabbed for failing to produce valid documentation.

Shongwe believes the arrests and prosecution of traffic offenders would assist in sending a stern warning to other motorists to behave appropriately on the road as this would yield positive results with regard to the promotion of road safety.

“We all need to assist government to improve road safety and this includes driving responsible and also those who are violating traffic rules. Owners of public transport must also assist in promoting road safety by ensuring that their vehicles are roadworthy and that their drivers are fit and proper to be on the road,” Shongwe said.

He has further called on law enforcement agencies to always ensure that those who violate traffic regulations are swiftly brought to book. The MEC has also called on the Criminal Justice System to accelerate the process of prosecuting traffic offenders and also ensure that those who are found guilty receive maximum permissible sentences in order to deter would be traffic offenders.

The traffic officials have also stopped and checked at least 206324 vehicles. 92544 of the stopped vehicles were Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs). 1895 were busses while 14349 were minibuses and 41416 comprised of light delivery vehicles (LDV’s). The number also includes 50562 sedans, 5117 Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and 441 motor cycles.

As part of addressing overloading, the officers also weighed 80830 vehicles. They impounded 914 and discontinued 1139 vehicles which were not road worthy.

MEC Shongwe praised the officers saying that they should continue working hard to bring to book any trouble makers on the road. He said such operations would continue be intensified as part of improving law enforcement visibility while reducing road crashes.