SADD calls for stricter repercussions for drunk driving

CAPE TOWN - A non-profit organisation that promotes road safety said it was not surprised by the recent road death numbers released by the Western Cape Mobility Department.

It reported that during the first 11 days of August, provincial traffic officers arrested 195 people for drunk driving.

And during the same period, 52 people died in road accidents.

Twenty-eight of the deaths recorded were not motorists, but pedestrians.

South Africans Against Drunk Driving (SADD) said that better safety measures needed to be created for pedestrians, including protected sidewalks and traffic calming measures.

Its director, Caro Smit, said that stricter repercussions were needed.

"Of these 195, how many of them will get a criminal record? How many of the people speeding will get criminal records? This is simply not happening, we have to get the Department of Transport to work with the Department of Justice to make these violations stick."