Speedsters, boozers in firing line
The RTMC says it will adopt a ruthless stance against wayward motorists on roads this festive season.
|||Johannesburg - The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) says it will adopt a ruthless stance against wayward motorists on roads this festive season.
During the first week of December, 218 people died on the road while 205 people had died during the same period last year. RTMC chief executive Makhosini Msibi said stricter measures would be put in place to prevent the numbers from increasing. “Our objectives during this festive season are informed by the analysis of the previous year and the statistics which have shown to us what we did wrong, where we went wrong, and what we can do to improve on those areas to change the patterns,” he said.
READ: How to get your car road trip ready
During a media briefing hosted by the National Press Club in Pretoria, Msibi said they would concentrate on a number of areas to decrease the number of fatalities on South African roads.
MORE OFFICERS DEPLOYED
He said the number of traffic officials on the roads would be increased this season.
Msibi said this would help to ensure that motorists adhere to the rules of the road. This he said would be done by having officers stationed every 30km on major national routes while some would be deployed to patrol the routes using “ghost vehicles” (unmarked vehicles). He refused to divulge the full scale of RTMC’s plan.
“There are 21 000 traffic officers in the country and we are looking at having at least 17 000 of them working throughout this festive season. Some will be stationed with cameras, while others will be monitoring the roads and the speeds at which people will be travelling and making sure that people are behaving,” he said.
The aim of this strategy is to make sure that motorists followed the rules of the road.
THE MAIN CULPRITS
“If you analyse figures for the past festive season, you will realise that the major contributory factors that cost us so dearly were speeding, unroadworthy vehicles, drunk driving - but the largest portion of the people who were affected from our statistics were pedestrians,” Msibi said.
According to Msibi, the majority of fatal accidents did not occur on major routes, but in residential areas.
“The problem is that after 8pm, there are not enough officers on the roads and that’s when most of the accidents occur.”
He said most accidents happened between 10pm and 6am, mostly in residential areas and townships. He attributed the problem to driving under the influence at those hours, “and most of these accidents happen between Thursday and Monday morning, which indicates accidents happen close to and during weekends.”
With Christmas Day on a weekend, Msibi said it will be challenging but they would not hesitate to make arrests.
The Star
TALK TO US: