Road offenders will be arrested, not fined

Motorists caught committing certain traffic offences in Johannesburg would be arrested on the spot rather than fined, the city’s metro police said on Monday.

“This occurrence of antisocial driving behaviour has resulted in a number of accidents with a number of lives being lost,” said Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar.

“Fines are not deterring motorists from bad behaviour on the roads, they are still insulting the law by being reckless.

“The plan has already been put into action. Just today, we arrested seven taxi drivers for offences in Hall Street, in the CBD.”

Arrests would occur if motorists were caught skipping red traffic lights, driving facing oncoming traffic, passing on the shoulder lanes, using emergency lanes and disregarding pedestrians.

If caught committing these offences, the motorist would be arrested, taken to jail and would then have to appear in court.

He said that 120 metro police officers were deployed for this operation at 40 hot spots.

“Beware, if you don’t adhere to the rules of the road, you will be in handcuffs,” Minnaar said.—Sapa