The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is calling on prosecution authorities to charge the young man, who crashed a luxury German sedan in Vereeniging, with murder.
This follows the emergence of video evidence on social media showing the occupants of the vehicle urging the driver to speed shortly before the crash. None of the passengers shown in the footage were wearing safety belts.
It is alleged the vehicle, a BMW M4, was involved in a road race with another vehicle before the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a tree. The driver was arrested at the scene and appeared in court on Monday on charges relating to driving under the influence and culpable homicide.
The crash resulted in the death of two people, leaving one with serious injuries.
“This crash demonstrates vividly how young people fail to take responsibility for their own safety and other motorists once they get behind their high speed vehicles. Every weekend, parents bury their loved ones who die because of deliberate, unacceptable and irresponsible conduct of drivers who disregard the rules of the road. This has to stop,” said RTMC CEO Makhosini Msibi.
According to the RTMC, blood samples of the driver have been taken for analysis to test for alcohol and other substances at the time of the crash.
“We note that blood samples from the accused have been taken for analysis and we call on the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) to upgrade the charges from culpable homicide to murder if it should be established that the driver of the vehicle was under the influence of alcohol or other substances at the time the accident occurred,” Msibi said.
The RTMC called on the NPA to take its precedent from a case involving Lazarus Malatjie.
In April this year, Malatjie was initially charged with culpable homicide after a car he was driving hit five youngsters, killing four and injuring one.
The NPA upgraded the charge sheet to murder and attempted murder after blood tests came back positive. – SAnews.gov.za
