Stricter law enforcement awaits Lim motorists

Date: 28 April 2016 By: Isabel Venter

From the month of May, road users can expect a high number of arrests and the impounding of vehicles as traffic authorities will deal with all factors that contribute to fatalities on South Africa’s roads.

This announcement by the Road Traffic Management Fund (RTMC) will see intensified law enforcement on Limpopo roads in particular. Last week, the MEC for Transport, Mrs Mapula Mokaba Phukwana, said that the province's roads were considered among the most dangerous in the world.

Explaining the need for intensified action, RTMC said that authorities and metros from all nine provinces were encouraged by the 46% decline in road fatalities during the Easter holidays this year. “The officials decided road safety operations implemented over Easter should be continued throughout the country to continue to reduce deaths,” said RTMC last Friday.

Representatives of the different provinces met as part of a National Road Safety Steering Committee on Friday (15th). During the meeting, road safety trends from the past five years were reviewed. Based on the trends, said RTMC, Easter operations that will continue will focus on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Pay-day weekends and long weekends will experience stringent law-enforcement operations and roadblocks to address drunken driving‚ speeding as well as reckless and negligent driving.  Drivers are also cautioned to ensure that all passengers use seatbelts. "Those who fail to do this‚ will incur fines for each passenger who is found to be flouting the rules‚" the RTMC said.

Law enforcement will focus on reducing pedestrian fatalities. Trends show that the highest number of road users who die on the roads in this period are pedestrians (38‚3%)‚ followed by passengers (32%) and drivers (27.8%).

Furthermore, Limpopo, together with KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and the Eastern Cape, have contributed to 63% of all road fatalities in the country. Source: Road Traffic Management Fund.

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Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

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