Police in Durban are hot on the trail of “roadblock busters” – at least 37 motorists who abandoned their vehicles near roadblocks at the weekend and fled.
The vehicles, most of which are taxis, have been impounded and their owners will be traced.
They will not only have to pay the towing and storage fees, but will be charged with defeating the ends of justice.
Police say they are now stationing plainclothes officers away from roadblocks to catch such drivers.
As of last night, there were more than 167 suspected drunk drivers locked up in Durban Central police station.
They will all appear in court tomorrow morning.
“The abandoned vehicles have to be collected by the registered owners. The onus is on the owner to tell the traffic officers who was driving their vehicle and why it had been abandoned,” said metro police spokesman Eugene Msomi.
He said the drivers of the vehicles would then be traced and arrested for defeating the ends of justice – over and above having to pay for the towing and storage fees.
“It is a very serious offence because you can’t just have people abandoning vehicles at the roadside. This is a new phenomenon,” he said.
Msomi said 75 drunk drivers were arrested during a major roadblock on the Southern Freeway on Thursday, a further 68 were caught on Friday night on Margaret Mncadi Avenue (Victoria Embankment) and 24 more were arrested on Saturday night.
“We will have had roadblocks in various parts of the city throughout this Easter,” he said.
Transport Department spokesman Kwanele Ncalane said 22 people had died in accidents in KwaZulu-Natal since Friday, despite the department’s efforts to reduce the carnage on the roads.
Ncalane said that the department would be able to indicate tonight if the number of deaths resulting from road accidents had increased or decreased compared to last year’s Easter holidays.
“We are expecting high volumes of traffic as people leave Durban and return to the city today,” he said.
Ncalane said officials of the department had stopped and inspected 27 000 cars since Friday, arresting about 200 people for drunken driving.
Aside from the arrests in Durban, drunk drivers were also nabbed in Jozini and Pietermaritzburg.
R2 000 bail
Ncalane said first-time drunk driving offenders were granted bail of R2 000 pending their court appearances while repeat offenders were not given bail.
“There is always an argument over the use of a breathalyser to test alcohol concentration in a person’s system, so we ensure we have staff to do blood tests as well during roadblocks,” he said.
Ncalane said 212 unroadworthy vehicles, including three buses from Mpumalanga, had been suspended, 469 drivers were fined for driving without carrying their driver’s licences and 920 people were arrested for speeding.
“People are still not obeying the rules of the road. We want to commend our traffic officers for their hard work. Our integrated approach to policing the roads with metro police officers and the SA Police Service is helping.
“We will continue our operations beyond the Easter holidays and we will be targeting hotspots,” Ncalane said.
