Festive road safety campaign begins as RTMC reports thousands of fines on day one

Law enforcement officers are gearing up to clamp down on road lawlessness as the festive season approaches.

During recent operations, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) noted an increase in arrests for various traffic-related offences and issued a total of 5626 fines.

This was achieved on the first day (December 1) of the national festive-season road safety campaign. Offenders included motorists caught driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding, and engaging in reckless or negligent driving, among other violations.

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Of particular concern is that more than a third of the individuals arrested had outstanding warrants related to unpaid traffic fines.

Motorists are urged to check whether they have any outstanding fines before embarking on their holiday trips in the coming weeks.

Those who have registered online profiles can use online.natis.gov.za to verify. The festive period is likely to pose great challenges for law enforcement because of the increase in the number of vehicles and heavy rainfalls and infrastructure damaging storms.

“Moreover, the number of registered vehicles in the country has increased from about 13 613 451 in September to 13 646 029 in October,” said RTMC chief communication officer Simon Zwane.

According to the National Traffic Information System, the number of registered vehicles has increased in all provinces except in Mpumalanga where the number of vehicles decreased by 638.

Gauteng had the highest increase in vehicles and now has 5.5 million registered vehicles followed by the Western Cape with 2.2 million registered vehicles and KwaZulu Natal with 1.8 million registered vehicles.

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Mpumalanga has 940 000 registered vehicles, Eastern Cape 880 O00, Limpopo 826 000, North West 684 000, Free State 655 000 and Northern Cape 299 000.

“The increase in vehicles will most likely increase the burden on officers and cause more congestions on the roads during peak travel periods.

“Travellers planning long distance trips are advised to carefully consider their time of travel and avoid night time as more crashes occur after sunset,” said Zwane.

“Motorists are further advised to take into consideration that heavy rains experienced by the country recently have compromised the quality of some of the roads. Therefore, travel must take place when visibility is clear to avoid possible potholes that can cause serious damage to vehicles and dent the joyous festive season spirit,” said Zwane.