Cape Town - The Provincial Traffic Services in the Western Cape already have their hands full as the festive season kicked off with 62 arrests for drunk driving from November 28 until December 4.
The Western Cape recently launched its Safely Home campaign with the theme: Alcohol and Roads Don’t Mix.
“Consuming alcohol, even in small amounts, and then walking, cycling or driving is very dangerous.
“Crashes involving drivers and pedestrians under the influence are no accidents. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) tests on the bodies of people killed in road crashes show that, whether you are a pedestrian, cyclist or driver, your risk of dying in a road crash is higher if you have been drinking.
“Alcohol impairs processes critical to safe road use, such as vision and reaction time, is also associated with poor judgement and is often linked to other high-risk road use behaviours such as speeding or not using seatbelts,” Western Cape MEC of mobility, Daylin Mitchell said.
Provincial Traffic Services implemented a total of 212 integrated roadblocks, vehicle checkpoints and speed control operations across the province during the period of November 28 and December 4.
During this time 29 588 vehicles were stopped and checked and a total of 9 556 fines were issued for various traffic violations.
Traffic services also issued 306 speeding offences.
“If you are a motorist, show consideration for pedestrians wherever they are. Pedestrians are almost always killed in collisions with vehicles travelling faster than 60km/ hour. Slowing down will give you more time to avoid pedestrians on the road.
“If you are travelling more slowly and you collide with a pedestrian, the pedestrian is more likely to survive. Be particularly careful when you come across child pedestrians.
“They may behave unpredictably and may struggle to understand how quickly a vehicle is moving. Because children are short, in a collision, they are likely to be hit in the head and chest and are therefore more likely to be killed,” Mitchell said.
Traffic services also impounded 30 vehicles, while 96 vehicles were discontinued for unroadworthiness.
A total of 81 arrests were also made for various offences under the National Road Traffic Act and Criminal Procedures Act.
Of the arrests made, 62 people were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, eight for possession of fraudulent documentation, two for bribery and two for reckless and negligent driving.
During this period, it also recorded 25 crashes and 26 fatalities.
Of the fatalities, 16 were pedestrians, six were passengers and four were drivers.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
IOL