Pretoria - The National Prosecuting Authority has dedicated prosecutors to direct investigations of all truck and bus crashes on routes as part of the government’s strategy to curb these incidents this festive season.
Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula made the announcement as he reiterated that the government did not wish to see any more horrifying accidents, such as the truck and bus head-on collision outside Ga-Rankuwa this year in which 15 people were killed. It was followed by one in KwaZulu-Natal, which made the department look closer into the crashes involving trucks and how devastating it was that some of the drivers unlawfully used routes dedicated to smaller vehicles just to avoid toll-gates.
The interventions initiated on the N2 Pongola and N3 Pietermaritzburg, including the routes R34 and R66, to address truck crashes, would be intensified, Mbalula said.
“Multidisciplinary law-enforcement operations will be conducted over the festive season to stop and check trucks and buses for roadworthiness on these routes as part of a nationwide operation.
“Traffic authorities will also use the automatic number plate recognition technology to determine if trucks and buses travelling on the identified routes comply with road regulations,” he said.
Mbalula said traffic law-enforcement had been given a boost with the deployment of new technology called the e-force. The National Traffic Police has piloted this technology over the past few months, and has held extensive engagements with prosecution authorities to enable its use in traffic management.
The e-force will enable officers to prosecute more traffic offenders, as it enables them to identify drivers and ownership of vehicles by simply scanning licences and vehicle discs.
Speaking about drinking and driving, Mbalula said alcohol enforcement roadblocks would be carried out in high-risk areas.
Motorists were warned that should they be found with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit, the law would take its full course.
“A stern warning must go to those who believe they can drive under the influence of alcohol on our roads with impunity because they have the means to bribe law-enforcement officials. Our anti-corruption efforts will focus on these wayward motorists and those law-enforcement officials who either accept or solicit these bribes.
“This is a cancer we are determined to uproot if we are to make a telling difference in making our roads safer,” Mbalula said.
Pretoria News