Motorcyclist caught doing 284km/h
By Werner Swart and Francois Du Plessis
JOHANNESBURG – Despite rain and wet roads early yesterday morning, more than 300 motorists and motorcyclists were caught speeding.
One motorcyclist, in particular, is facing the full wrath of the law after he was caught doing 284km/h on the R59 South near the Kliprivier turn-off.
Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department spokesman Chief Superintendent Wilfred Kgasago said the motorcyclist, riding a Suzuki superbike, was earlier also caught doing 249km/h on the N3 South before the Elands interchange.
“The man was taken to the Alberton police station where charges of exceeding the speed limit and reckless and negligent driving were opened,” said Kgasago.
The motoring editor of The Citi- zen, Andre de Kock, said rather than fine the biker, his motorbike should be taken away for good.
“Through his actions he has shown he is not responsible enough to be allowed to control something which can travel at speeds like this,” said De Kock.
He said although speeding was against the law in the first place, it was also extremely dangerous.
“A motorist would see this biker as a little dot and two seconds later he would pass the vehicle. If the motorist changes lanes and the bike crashes into the car at that speed, people would definitely die,” he explained.
De Kock said such incidents led to stereotyping of all motorcyclists as “reckless and stupid.”
He said bikers who speed would say bikes were designed to travel at such speeds and they could handle it. “In reality you can’t control it when doing these speeds on an open road,” he said.
Two other motorcyclists were also arrested at the weekend, one for racing at 192km/h and the other at 189km/h, on the N3 South too.
De Kock said they did not have to speed on open roads: “There are proper racetracks where bikers can take part in top-speed runs for a fee at weekends. It is under control; there is only one-way traffic.”
Kgasago also said yesterday that apart from the speeding motorcyclists, between 5am to 10am more than 300 vehicles were also caught on camera for exceeding the speed limit. This was despite wet conditions in some parts.