Law enforcement officers will not hesitate to discontinue and even impound unroadworthy vehicles, including those with cracked windscreens.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) issued this warning on Friday as it urged motorists to ensure vehicles are roadworthy and licensed before embarking on travel during the festive season.

“The impoundment of a vehicle will cause great inconvenience to travelling motorists as they will have to fix the vehicle at extra costs and have the vehicle taken for roadworthy tests before it is allowed on the road again.

“This will be in addition to traffic fines and impoundment fees,” RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane said.

The RTMC said law enforcement operations clamping down on unroadworthy vehicles were starting to yield the desired results.

Traffic officers were paying attention to roadworthiness and overloading .

It said the National Traffic Police,  deployed on the N2 Pongola and N3 Pietermaritzburg route, had inspected about 1,900 vehicles between November 11 and December 5 .

Traffic police issued 1,399 traffic fines while 17 truck drivers were arrested for various offences including drunk driving, reckless and negligent driving and fraud.

The RTMC said vehicle defects which had been identified as contributing to fatal crashes on the roads were defective breaks, worn tyres and defective lights.

“With heavy rainfalls predicted for this period, it is important to ensure that wipers are in a perfect state as they affect visibility on rainy days.”

Source: TimesLIVE