Poor investigations let down road victims
South Africans Against Drunk Driving feel that the 10-year jail sentence given for the death of two people by a drunk driver who had no driving licence and who did not render help at the scene of the crash is extremely lenient.The South African Road Traffic Act allows a nine-year sentence for drunken driving that results in death or serious injury and a R180000 fine.Mcabango Hlongwa killed two people so he could have been sentenced to 18 years for the drunken driving charge alone. We are horrified that the case was not properly investigated and the fact that he allegedly drove without a licence was either unknown or not added to the charge sheet.Many people are found not guilty, or receive lesser sentences than they should, because of poor investigative work.South Africans Against Drunk Driving is in a working committee with the WHO's global alliance of NGOs advocating for road safety and road crash victims to ask our government to improve post-crash investigations, post-crash medical care, collect correct crash data and to offer counselling and compensation to victims. ..
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