The Johannesburg Metro Police is cracking down on drunk drivers this festive season

RELATED LINKS: Combating crime in the City REALISING the urgency to put in place programmes to combat criminal activity, the City established an inner city task force, installed CCTV surveillance in parts of the central business district and Braamfontein and updated the Metro Police. It can now respond to calls and make arrests. The dedicated Metro Police phone number to report incidents is 011 375 5911. Read more Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department ADDRESSING crime is one of the City's clear priorities in its Joburg 2030 strategy. This priority led to the establishment of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department in March 2001 to manage and co-ordinate the City's crime prevention strategy. Read more EMS watches over holidaymakers TO make sure Joburgers are safe over the holiday season, 500 volunteers signed up at the City's emergency management services unit. Read more Safe4Life aims to keep roads safe THE number of road accidents in South Africa has long been a cause for concern, especially over the festive season. With this in mind, the Gauteng department of community safety has launched a Safe4Life campaign, which focuses on pedestrians, but does not ignore other road users in its bid to make the province's streets safer for all. Read more No playtime for the emergency services JOBURG'S essential services were on high alert over the festive period, ensuring a peaceful - and safe - start to the New Year. Roadblocks were set up along the Golden Highway and Stockwell Road in Eldorado Park, where 17 people were arrested for driving while drunk. Read more

Festive Season Campaign targets drunk drivers If you are driving, stay off the drink. This is the warning from the Joburg Metro Police, which is on the warpath over the holidays. And drunk drivers are in its sights. November 27, 2006 By Michael Tsingo METRO Police is cracking down on people who drink and drive this festive season. Already about 64 drunk drivers have been arrested since last week, when the department launched its festive season campaign. The road safety organisation, Arrive Alive, says: "Drunk driving is one of the biggest threats to road safety in South Africa. Research indicates that 50 percent of people who die on the roads have a blood alcohol concentration above 0,05 grams per 100 millilitres." Through the campaign the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department is determined to put an end drunk driving. "We are mounting more road blocks and any person found driving on a public road while exceeding the legal alcohol limit of 0,05 grams in their blood will be arrested," says the department's spokesperson, Wayne Minnaar. According to Minnaar repeat offenders could have their cars confiscated by the Metro Police. But drunk driving is not the only traffic crime the campaign is targeting. The police are enforcing other traffic laws, and already about 1 490 cases have been brought to book since the campaign was launched. Of these, 24 criminals wanted for serious crimes such as murder, rape and armed robbery were arrested, and four people were arrested for driving stolen vehicles. Some 231 fines have been issued for contravening other traffic laws while 64 arrests were made for drunken driving. The most common offence has been outstanding traffic warrants, leading to 618 arrests, and 79 fines were issued for driving on the wrong side of the road. Taxis were some of the worst offenders, with 430 notices issued to unroadworthy taxis, ordering them to stop operating, and 40 fines issued for overloading. On 23 November, 15 people operating businesses in the city centre were arrested for contravening several by-laws. Minnaar says Metro Police will continue to raid these businesses until all of them abide by the City by-laws. "These business people were first served with summons in June but they failed to abide [by them], leading to their arrest," explains Minnaar. "If they do not pay their fines and if they do not fix their problems, they will get more fines and arrests." Five of these business people had failed to comply with emergency by-laws, having neither fire extinguishers nor access to fire escape points on their premises. Among the group were three restaurant owners who were arrested and fined R1 000 each for failing to clean their premises. Another six business people were arrested and fined R1 500 each for operating without valid business licences. Lastly, a butcher was arrested for evading fines of R5 800. Apart from the butchery and restaurants, the arrested business people were in the clothing industry. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za