Results of Weekend Alcohol Blitz Roadblocks | Western Cape Government

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Results of Weekend Alcohol Blitz Roadblocks

4 December 2010

This past weekend saw our law enforcement officers, work round the clock manning various roadblocks throughout the Western Cape.

Our Safely Home Campaign has been running since before the World Cup and will continue our operations until we manage to change the behaviour of all road users, including pedestrians.

Two thousand; three hundred and seventy-eight (2378) vehicles were stopped throughout the weekend. Provincial Traffic arrested twenty (20) drunk drivers. This is over and above arrests made by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and Metro Police.

The highest blood alcohol reading was one point eighty-two milligrams (1.82mg), recorded in Vredenburg. Other arrests include two for the possession of dagga, one vehicle overloaded and two taxis without permits. Fife hundred and sixty-four (564) fines were issued, seventy (70) of which were for speeding. This still remains a huge problem.

I was informed of an accident on the N2 between Mossel Bay and George where one person died, two (2) were critically injured and the driver ran away. We will find him - there is zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour.

In another accident on the N1 (direction Paarl), a motor cycle collided head-on with a light motor vehicle and the motor cyclist, who was travelling on the wrong side of the road, tragically did not survive the accident.

There is too many such reports everyday. Driver behaviour instantly improves where law enforcement officers are present. We cannot however be everywhere and if we are to succeed in halving our road fatalities by 2014, attitudes and behaviour will have to change. Until that happens, the bloodshed will continue.

I also want to use this opportunity to warn the matriculants who will be returning from their celebrations in Plettenberg Bay this week, to take road safety very seriously. We will have zero tolerance for anyone found disregarding the rules of the road and we would ultimately like to get them all Safely Home.

Media Enquiries: 

Melany Kühn
Spokesperson for Minister Fritz
Cell: 078 887 7004