Motorists’ spirits not dampened by inclement Cape weather as 77 arrested for drunk driving over long weekend

Cape Town’s emergency centre was the busiest in the Western Cape this weekend, recording close to 3,000 incidents this weekend.

The city’s public emergency and communication centre (PECC) recorded 2,671 incidents over the long weekend. Councillor JP Smith, responsible for safety and security said about a third of all calls — 874 — were recorded on Monday.

“While the PECC generally records just a handful of calls in the category of environmental calls, this past weekend saw 162 such calls — 90% of them on Monday,” said Smith.

“This category includes pollution, structural flooding, landslides and severe storms.

“The centre also recorded 160 incidents of obstructed roadways — nearly 85% of the incidents were reported on Monday.”

Smith said the call “categories and volumes further amplify the difficult weekend that Cape Town and much of the province experienced”.

“Our emergency and enforcement services were put to the test, given the magnitude of the frontal system and the many, and varied impacts,” he said.

“And while the weather has cleared, there is still much work to be done. The city’s overall efforts are being co-ordinated by the disaster risk management centre, through our disaster co-ordinating team, and we must extend our sincere appreciation to everyone involved in this mammoth undertaking.”

Smith said the inclement weather that battered the Western Cape over the long weekend did not stop drunk driving.

‘The statistics also show that there were at least 79 motor vehicle and pedestrian accidents recorded by the PECC, while our enforcement staff made 77 arrests for drunk driving. The weather clearly didn’t slow down these individuals, but hopefully, the time spent behind bars will have given them some pause for thought,” said Smith.

“In general enforcement efforts, the city’s enforcement agencies made 418 arrests in the past week, compared to 348 the previous week, and issued 70,736 traffic and bylaw fines.

The city’s law enforcement department made 244 arrests, and issued 3,993 fines for various transgressions.”

He said metro police made 97 arrests, including 20 for driving under the influence and issued 2,595 fines for traffic and bylaw transgressions.

They also confiscated items including tik, Mandrax, a firearm, an imitation firearm, 66 rounds of ammunition, counterfeit bank notes, and 37.2 litres of alcohol.

“Cape Town traffic services arrested 77 suspects, including 52 for driving under the influence, two for reckless and negligent driving and 23 others on various charges.

Officers also recorded 64,148 traffic offences, impounded 310 public transport vehicles and executed 2,472 warrants of arrest,” said Smith.

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