Alcohol use big threat on country’s roads

By Nomava Nobumba
18 December 2009

Driving under the influence continues to threaten the safety of road users.

The Transport Department says more than two-thousand drunk drivers were arrested nationally between the 1st and the 16th of this month.

In that period, more than 300 000 vehicles and drivers were stopped and checked as part of the Festive Season Arrive Alive Road Safety Campaign.

Of the two-thousand drivers arrested for drinking and driving, more than 500 were banned in the Eastern Cape alone and a further 320 in KwaZulu-Natal.

Meanwhile, road deaths are showing an alarming increase.

The Department says by yesterday, a total of 448 people had already been killed on South African roads this month.

It is almost double the fatalities over the same period last year, when 228 people died in traffic accidents.

Transport spokesperson Logan Maistry says of the 448 people killed so far this month, 126 were drivers, 184 passengers and 130 pedestrians.

A second horror crash within 24 hours in the Eastern Cape has claimed at least four lives.

A minibus taxi and a car collided near Mthatha last night. Six people were injured.

Yesterday, eight people were killed in an accident involving a 25-seater bus and a tow truck on the R-61 between Engcobo and Cofimvaba.