Editorial
Johannesburg - This weekend marks the start of the annual holiday season. The first waves of people will have left the metropolitan areas en route to holidays at the coast or trips home to the hinterland. It’s been a tough year, made even harder by the ongoing crises that we all have had to endure, especially the diminishing amount of electricity every day.
People will want to relax, have a good time and forget some of the tougher times. This is perfectly understandable but it has to be done within the laws. Drinking and driving is against the law. As we report today, law enforcement agencies have already warned that there will be roadblocks on specific days – in fact there should be roadblocks every day.
The whiners are already complaining that this is nothing less an attempt extort bribes to let motorists pass. There’s probably an element of truth in that, but equally if you haven’t broken the law, there’s no reason to be fearful and no reason to have to pay anything to avoid being prosecuted.
We need more roadblocks, not less. We need more police on our roads, especially the highways. And we need more resolute action being taken against drunken drivers, reckless drivers and drivers in unroadworthy vehicles.
It might be an inconvenience, getting stuck in a traffic jam as officers check the licence disc on vehicles. It might be a real downer if it means one person in the group can’t drink because they are the designated driver for the evening. But it’s worth it, if we can keep death off the roads this festive season.
If you have to drink, don’t drive – use public transport or hail a taxi – or don’t go out. The choice is yours; no one is saying you can’t drink – you just can’t get behind the wheel.