City and provincial authorities have arrested more than 2 500 motorists for drunk driving in the Western Cape in the past five months – an average of more than 500 a month.
A total of at least 2 555 motorists have been arrested since June - a figure compiled by the Cape Times from statistics provided by the City of Cape Town’s traffic service, provincial traffic service and metro police traffic officers, who conduct separate or integrated roadblocks but keep separate statistics.
These figures have been compiled as new campaigns have been launched to raise awareness about drunk-driving, campaigns which authorities say appear to be starting to shift driver attitudes.
Provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa said the number of drunk-driving arrests made monthly were affected by factors such as sporting events, the time of the month and the location of roadblocks.
Provincial traffic officers were responsible for main and national roads in the Western Cape and held 24 roadblocks each weekend.
In July this year provincial traffic officers arrested 198 drunk drivers, the highest number of arrests the provincial traffic service recorded in five months.
Africa attributed this to the World Cup during which a number of people had travelled between provinces to get to and from matches.
Numbers arrested spiked again in October when provincial traffic officers arrested 160 motorists for drunk driving, a figure up by 46 compared to the previous month.
“One of the main reasons it went up is because there were more rugby matches and other sporting events during the month.
“We also changed our strategy and went from static roadblocks to moving roadblocks which move from area to area,” Africa said.
Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz said a range of factors affected the number of drunk-driving arrests made weekly.
“It’s very interesting how sports and other big events in Cape Town actually affect the arrests,” he said.
Merle Lourens, spokeswoman for the City of Cape Town’s traffic service, said four or five roadblocks were held a month in and around the city, not necessarily in the same areas each time.
She said the location of roadblocks depended on, among other factors, the accident rate in a particular area.
About 25 officers were deployed to each City of Cape Town roadblock.
The metro police also held roadblocks within the city, mostly over weekends.
Deputy metro police chief Yolanda Faro said the time and place of operations was planned according to offence patterns and crime threat analysis.
She said extra roadblocks and visible policing were planned for the festive season to clamp down on drunk driving.
Transport MEC Robin Carlisle said the figure of more than 2 500 arrests in five months was “extraordinarily high”, even by international standards.
But Carlisle said a number of initiatives aimed at clamping down on drunk driving had recently started bearing fruit.
These included the “Name and Shame” campaign which started last month and which involves the names of convicted drunk drivers being published.
“What we are finding, and that’s through chatting to people on buses, etc, is that they are aware of the campaign. There’s a change in attitude.
“We want to get the message across that it’s simply not worth having that extra glass of wine,” Carlisle said.
Fritz agreed that there appeared to be a shift in behaviour very recently.
Regarding the Name and Shame campaign, he said: “People are apparently petrified about this campaign.
“They’re really worried, so aren’t drinking and driving,” he said.
Fritz said extra visible policing and roadblocks seemed to result in fewer motorists taking chances.
Africa agreed that extra operations and the campaigns appeared to be working.
“The message is really getting out now. We won’t stop with the roadblocks until we’re not making any more drunk-driving arrests.
“There’s definitely a change in driver behaviour. We’ve received many phone calls from motorists saying they won’t be driving drunk any more because, for example, a friend or a colleague on Facebook told them not to drink and drive,” he said.
After radio broadcasts in which motorists were urged not to drink and drive, Africa said there was a decrease in the number of arrests being made in roadblocks.
“Motorists are adhering to our call.”
Africa said during the recent FNB Whisky Live Festival, designated drivers had also been provided with stickers indicating they should not be served alcohol, and this had been obeyed.
Africa said he had noticed a number of people had opted to use metered taxis instead of their own cars to return home.
Alison Brussow, the national marketing manager of Good Fellas, a service providing a chauffeur for your car, said the number of people making use of the service had increased over the past few months.
On one weekend this month, 450 clients in the Western Cape had used Good Fellas, a figure higher than in previous weeks.
“The number of clients certainly has increased. It usually does during the festive season when there are Christmas parties… Policing on the roads has also become a little more strict.
“The culture seems to be changing. It’s not cool to be drinking and driving any more,” Brussow said.
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