The driver of a red Range Rover, who was seen in a viral social media video driving recklessly has been arrested.
This after investigators from the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s national anti-corruption unit identified the driver as businessman from Marble Hall in Limpopo.
He was arrested and taken to the Kameeldrift police station in Gauteng on Wednesday, where he was charged with reckless driving.
A video of the reckless driver emerged on social media on December 17, and it showed a man of the window of the moving vehicle along R573 Moloto Road.
Investigations are continuing and the man is expected to appear in court soon.
“Law enforcement officers are working hard to clamp down on lawlessness on the roads this festive season and a total of 2,639 drivers have been arrested since the start of the festive season on December 1 for various offences,” said the RTMC.
“Members of the public are urged to work with the police to ensure that identify reckless drivers, speedsters and drunk drivers and face the full might of the law.”
Releasing the preliminary festive season road safety statistics on Wednesday, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said there was an increasing number of travellers on the roads, which results in a high number of traffic violations.
He indicated that more than 2,600 drivers were arrested for various offences including drunk-driving and excessive speeding.
“The worst speedster was caught on the N1 [in] Mokopane, where he clocked a 225 kilometers per hour in an 120 kilometer zone.
“The worst drunk driver was caught on the N2, north of Winklespruit in KwaZulu-Natal with a breath alcohol reading at 1.95mg [milligrams] 1,000 ml [millilitres] of breath.
“The legal breath alcohol limit in South Africa is less than 0.24mg in 1,000 ml of breath,” the minister said.
READ MORE: Mbalula’s stance on drunk driving: ‘Not even cough mixture’
It is still legal to drive if the motorist’s blood-alcohol-level measures below 0.05g per 100ml, but this has since been challenged by government.
The National Road Traffic Amendment Act prohibits any use and consumption of alcohol by all motor vehicle drivers on South African public roads.
The zero-tolerance approach will mean that the legal blood-alcohol limit for drivers would be 0%.
The amendment bill was first introduced to National Assembly in May 2020 in bid to reduce fatal crashes across the country.