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KZN REDUCES ROAD CRASH FATALITIESBeing caught drinking and driving “will be hell” this year… The KZN MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Bheki Cele has warned drivers that a licence demerit system will be introduced this financial year and “we will be eating your licenses slowly but surely. Cele was speaking during the road accidents report media briefing in Durban recently. He was briefing the media to give feedback to communities on the efficiency and effectiveness of the road safety campaigns over the festive season. He said that the Australian system on which the local version is modeled provides 12 points and three points are deducted each time a motorist is caught speaking on a cellphone. He said in case of drinking and driving here, the number of points deducted would depend on the level of alcohol in the body. He once again described the South African traffic laws as too soft to control road users, saying that the coming financial year would bring a dramatic change in the behaviour of road users. “The problem with our laws is that they perceive traffic offenses as different from other criminal offenses. Think about a person who drinks alcohol and get into the car and kill innocent people but is charged for culpable homicide. That person knows that in South Africa it is a crime to drink and drive,” said Cele. Reporting on the road safety campaigns, Cele said that the summer holiday season combined enforcement operations produced many traffic prosecutions and other enforcement measures to a success that yielded a reduction in road crash fatalities at the same period last year for KwaZulu-Natal. “Our visits to taverns, taxi ranks and beaches under “Operation Just Do Right” accompanied by prominent radio personalities as Transport Ambassadors have yielded good results. “Our multidisciplinary roadblocks supported by technology and booze buses have proved to be very efficient and cost effective enforcement measure. Apart from alcohol and drunken drivers, these roadblocks have produced illegal drugs, stolen goods, illegal foreign persons, wanted criminals and unlicensed drivers,” said Cele. Meanwhile, this year the Department of Transport is celebrating 10 years of Asiphephe which was launched in 1998. Asiphephe has been hailed as one of the successful campaigns throughout South Africa. “During the last ten years our solid support for our objectives has eventually brought about a change in public perception, supporting the view that the risk of detection is high simply not acceptable. I am proud of some of our road safety measures that we took in the past that are bearing fruits and making a difference as far as road safety is concerned,” Cele concluded. HOLIDAY STATISTICS
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