30 arrests every day for drunk driving in Joburg
Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba has released crime stats data for Johannesburg, as part of a report on the city’s Buya Mthetho (‘bring back the law’) initiative.
Operation Buya Mthetho is a joint operation between all key departments and entities in the City of Joburg, such as JMPD, Environmental Health, Social Development, Infrastructure Services, the City’s legal department, and Development Planning, among others.
The operation’s main focus is to ensure city by-laws are adhered to by all within the city and that the rule of law becomes the order of the day.
In a media briefing on Monday (17 September) Mashaba outlined the drastic increase in the number arrests happening in the city as a result of the operation.
Between January and August 2018, the project has seen 10,188 joint operations take place across the city, with 29 school searches, 173 drug searchers and 408 by-law operations launched.
The bulk of the operations were contained in regional stop-and-search points, of which there were 9,587. Because of this, the bulk of the arrests made so far in 2018 were related to traffic crimes, particularly with people driving under the influence of alcohol.
Drunk driving and accidents
According to the data, over 7,280 people were arrested on Joburg streets for driving under the influence of alcohol in 2018 – an average of 30 people arrested every day.
Drunk driving remains a major problem throughout the city, however, with the crime being the most common leading to arrest in all main centres. This is followed by reckless and negligent driving, which saw a massive increase in the number of arrests in 2018.
Other traffic data released by the city includes a reduction in the total number of accidents recorded in the city – down 11% from 2017 to 60,251. However, this still carries and alarmingly high daily average of 248 accidents happening every day.
The number of fatalities as a result of accidents has dropped, (307, down 13% from the previous year), while 169 accidents involved pedestrians – basically the same number as previously (170).
“Drunken driving is a major concern within Johannesburg, We have however managed to increase arrests and reduce the number of incidents and offenders,” Mashaba said.
Other crime data
In terms of other crime categories, arrests have been up almost across the board, the city’s data showed.
Among the operations was the drive to identify hijacked buildings in the city. According to Mashaba, the city identified 561 hijacked buildings, of which 134 matters were handed over to the policing authorities to take further.
The city further assessed over 120 nightclubs and taverns for possible illegal activity, which results in 9 being closed down, 8 fines handed out, 11 warnings given and 39 notices issued.
Read: Dodgy stats mean that South Africa’s crime rates are worse than police calculated
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