City extends its road safety campaign

By Mandisi Tyulu
21 October 2008

The City of Cape Town’s Traffic Services has extended the focus of its road safety campaign to motorcycles.

"At the weekend, the Traffic Services highway patrol team set up a roadblock on the N1, near Joostenbergvlakte and checked 183 motorcycles for compliance with road traffic regulations", says Principal Inspector Merle Lourens, spokesperson for Traffic Services.

"Eleven were deemed to be unsafe and may not be used again until they have passed a roadworthiness test. The team also issued 70 fines for registration plate offences – 31 did not display number plates, 25 number plates were obscured and in 14 cases the letters and figures were too small".

"Twenty five motorcyclists were charged for not having driving licenses and another 25 for operating unlicensed motorcycles,’’ she says.

During the roadblock, 20 taxis were also stopped, four drivers were charged for being unlicensed operators and various other fines were issued.

"Our officers also arrested a man for the possession of 41 bags of dagga and some tik lollies. They pursued and caught him after he abandoned his white Nissan Sentra near the roadblock.’’

"Road safety is of utmost importance to Traffic Services and we will continue with random roadblocks to ensure our roads become safer," Principal Inspector Lourens says.’’