More than 100 motorists were arrested this past weekend for disobeying the rules of the road in Bloemfontein.
“Between the 11th and the 13th of October 2019, more than 74 motorists were arrested for drunken driving, 22 drivers were arrested for excessive speed and 36 vehicles were discontinued. Of the speedsters, one motorist clocked 206km on a 120km zone. Such reckless driving must never be tolerated,” Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said in a statement on Sunday.
The Minister led a successful Road Safety Campaign during the festivities at the Mangaung African Cultural Festival (Macufe), in Bloemfontein.
The initiative included a road safety education and awareness activation as well as traffic law enforcement operations (by the National Traffic Police and the Free State Provincial Traffic Police Department).
Meanwhile, Gauteng MEC for Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure on Friday held a productive meeting with Driving School Operators in the province as part of finding an urgent intervention to curb road fatalities.
Gauteng Province Driving School Association and the South African Institute for Driving Schools agreed that there was a need for government and the industry to forge a closer working relationship.
“Driving schools are an important stakeholder if we are to deal with the alarming rate of road deaths on our roads. I am happy that we were able to agree on a few fundamentals on how we will be working together,” Mamabolo said.
The meeting agreed on formalising relations by drafting a Memorandum of Understanding that will be signed by all driving schools in the Province.
The meeting was part of consultations that the MEC will be conducting during October Transport Month with stakeholders across the entire transport value chain in order to position Gauteng as the City Region of Smart Mobility.
The department’s key priorities for creating a city region for smart mobility include the reduction of road fatalities, decongesting Gauteng roads and also depolluting the road network.
Mamabolo has already held consultative meetings with Members of Mayoral Committees for Roads and Transport across all development corridors where he outlined the strategy.
A Road Safety Seminar will be held later this month where industry stakeholders will be given an opportunity to bring fresh ideas in a bid to curb deaths on the province’s road network. – SAnews.gov.za
