Cape Town – Motorists, who engage in illegal drag racing, should heed the latest penalty meted out to a driver who was found guilty of irresponsible driving, fined R3 000 or 30 days imprisonment and his licence was revoked for six months, the City of Cape Town warned on Tuesday.
The accused also had a further six months’ direct imprisonment suspended for five years on condition that he was not found guilty of the same offense during the suspension period.
Police said they arrested the offending driver in June 2014 after a car chase. The driver had been taking part in an illegal street race.
Commenting on the sentence, the City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith, said: “This is a very significant judgment because sanctions for these offences are hard to come by and cases can drag on for years in some instances, which means that the prospect of being caught is hardly an effective deterrent”.
Smith said the stern sentence sends out a strong message to illegal drag racers that “there are consequences for motorists who continue to use public roads for their personal amusement”.
On Sunday the City’s Traffic Service arrested three motorists for reckless and negligent driving and three other drivers for drunk driving in Montague Gardens and Paarden Eiland.
In addition to these arrests, officers recorded 2,149 road rules trangressions and of road rules. The police arrested 23 suspects for possession of illegal narcotics that included mandrax, tik, heroin and dagga.
African News Agency
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