Multitudes of people are expected to start leaving the metro areas such as Pretoria and travel to their festive season holiday destinations from today.
Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) spokesperson Simon Zwane said law enforcement officers had been instructed to make immediate arrests for serious offences.
He said this was despite the motion for drunk drivers to be jailed for a minimum of seven days before appearing in court being still under consideration.
“Drunk and negligent drivers found driving at 160km/* in 120km/* zones; and 120km/* or 140km/* in 100km/* zones should not even bother showing their licences because they will be arrested on the spot.”
National Taxi Alliance spokesperson Alpheus Mlalazi said campaigns had been held to prepare drivers and patrollers to ensure they and their vehicles were fit to take passengers across the country.
He said all affiliated taxi associations in the metro and across the country had taken part in the Ndlelanhle road safety and customer safety campaign to help reduce the number of accidents.
“Our patrollers are checking the roadworthiness of taxis and officials will be assessing that drivers are sober before driving out of ranks with passengers.
“We have also encouraged our drivers to do deliveries in the event that they reach their destinations late at night when it’s not safe to leave women and their children with luggage in the streets,” said Mlalazi.
Bonny Ndjishe, of the Mamelodi Amalgamated Taxi Association, said local patrollers were also checking the conditions of taxis. This exercise was being conducted as part of Operation Hlokomela, joined and endorsed by the SAPS.
“We are not compromising on safety and no driver will be allowed to get away with wrongdoing. We are tired of avoidable fatalities and we want the police working with us because we want them to make arrests,” he said.
Melitah Madiba, spokesperson for the Gauteng Roads and Transport Department, said there was a strong political will to bring down the number of fatalities on the roads.
She said Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC Dr Ismail Vadi, and his counterpart in the Department of Community Safety, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane, were also expected to speak to taxi drivers in Johannesburg this morning.
