Johannesburg - The Road Traffic Management Corporation says 160 drivers across the country have been caught with fake licences in crackdowns this festive season.
Gauteng recorded the highest number at 88, while 23 drivers in KwaZulu-Natal and 17 in the Western Cape have been arrested for this offence.
RTMC spokesman Simon Zwane said: “These people will be charged with fraud and corruption for possessing fraudulent documents.
“We will also be investigating where they are getting these licences, whether they are getting them from driving schools. We already know there are third parties printing these documents.
“These false documents are different. Every document issued by the state, like money, has security features these do not have.”
Meanwhile, the KwaZulu-Natal department of transport revealed that 3604 people had been caught driving without a licence.
Zinhle Mngomezulu of the Road Traffic Inspectorate said: “These drivers were all fined. Only those driving heavy duty vehicles are arrested.”
Nevertheless, the provincial department is hopeful that this season it has began to turn the tide against the road carnage, as current statistics show a downward trend in the reports of crashes and fatalities.
Mngomezulu said the statistics for road crashes and deaths showed a slight decline: this year 194 road crashes had been recorded so far, compared with 227 last year. The latest figures showed there had been 222 fatalities, whereas in 2014 there had been 260.
20 000 COPS ON KZN ROADS
An estimated 20 000 law enforcement officials have been deployed across the province. As roadblocks intensified, MEC for transport Willies Mchunu warned that those caught drinking and driving might see in the new year in police cells.
Teams that include the provincial RTI, police, municipal traffic officers and national traffic officers have been deployed.
From 1 December to date more than 177 000 vehicles have been stopped and checked across the province. About 337 motorists have been arrested for drinking and driving through multidisciplinary roadblocks and random stop-and-checks on highways.
Mngomezulu said the number of people caught driving drunk this festive season had increased from 213 in 2014 to 407 this year. Among them were taxi drivers, caught with their vehicles full of passengers.
Mchunu has hailed the enforcement operations and warned that more crackdowns could be expected.
“We are going for a complete crackdown on drinking and driving on the New Year's Eve,” he said. “We urge everyone not to drink and drive or they must have sober, designated drivers. Those who violate the law will spend the New Year’s Eve and possibly the entire weekend in police cells.”
The Mercury