Johannesburg - The on-going fatal crashes across the province will not stop until irresponsible drivers are strictly punished, says Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC, Ismail Vadi.
"Nothing will change to stop this on-going carnage on our roads without a stick, I mean a big stick to deal with those drivers who are still ignoring the rules of our roads," Vadi said at the launch of Transport Month on Tuesday.
"Often road crashes and accidents happen because of our indiscretions, texting and speaking on a cell phone while driving, jaywalking, falling asleep at the steering wheel, excessive speeding," he said.
Vadi said his department has teamed up with the provincial Department of Community Safety in conducting roadblocks throughout the province with law-enforcement as an objective.
"We aim to stop 250 000 vehicles every month in Gauteng and this campaign will extend over the entire festive season.
"We call on motorists to co-operate with the traffic and law enforcement agencies as failure to do that will [lead to their arrest]. We will be targeting drunken drivers, fraudulent driver's licences. We will also be checking on the roadworthiness of vehicles," he said.
The MEC further said they will also insist that all passengers in the front and the back seats wear seatbelts.
The MEC's sentiments were echoed by acting boss of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), Collins Letsoalo, who said: "This is no longer the time for rhetoric talk and speeches.
"Common sense in South Africa is not common. It pains me to see children who are the future leaders of this country being killed in our roads. We dare not to fail in dealing with those who don't want to obey our traffic rules.
"Again, we dare not to fail to deal with corruption at our testing stations, which are authorising un-roadworthy vehicles to be on our roads."
AA head of Public Affairs, Gary Ronald, said all those who cause unnecessary deadly accidents through their negligence should be charged with murder.
Ronald further told BuaNews that they will soon organise a forum with the Minister of Transport and all the MECs responsible for transport in the country to look at the cause of the fatal crashes on the country's roads.
Secretary of the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO), Phillip Taaibosch, said: "We are not going to take it anymore [when a] taxi driver uses illiteracy as an excuse whenever they cause fatal accidents through their negligent driving.
"I am very emotional about this issue. We are calling all taxi drivers to obey the rules of the road. Again, we want to urge commuters to refuse to travel in overloaded taxis.
"As the taxi industry, we fully support the purging of those taxi drivers who do not want to respect the road rules and we want them to be charged with murder for their negligent driving, which results in the death of commuters."
Transport Month campaign is an annual feature on the calendar of the Department of Transport and is one of the platforms and vehicles through which the department engages directly with its stakeholders.
It seeks to raise awareness of the important role of transport in the economy, and to invite participation from society and business in providing a safer, more affordable, accessible and reliable transport system for the country.
The theme of this year's Transport Month campaign is Towards an Integrated, Safe Public Transport that Reduces Road Facilities.
