RTMC: Killing of traffic officers a concern

In the latest incident, a 38-year-old Johannesburg metro police officer died after an alleged drunken driver drove his car into the officer in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Johannesburg metro police spokesman Wayne Minnaar said the incident occurred along the N1 north in Midrand.

“The officer was standing outside his patrol car on the side of the freeway and was writing out a traffic fine to another motorist when the [alleged] drunk driver with a white Mercedes slammed into the patrol car.”

Minnaar said two female family members of the driver who arrived on the scene were also arrested when they tried to remove the alcohol from his car.

The man was taken to the Sunninghill Hospital to have blood drawn and was locked up at Midrand police station for alleged drunken and reckless driving.

“Unfortunately the officer didn’t make it, he passed away just before 4am,” Minnaar said.

The arrested man was charged at the Sandton police station with culpable homicide and reckless and drunken driving. A court date had not yet been set.

The TRMC said in a statement on Sunday another officer was killed in a hit-and-run incident in Tzaneen in Limpopo in March. The driver allegedly failed to stop after the incident and sped away from the scene. The motorist later handed himself over to police and was arrested.

In Cape Town, a traffic officer was killed when a minibus taxi driver lost control of his vehicle and collided head-on with the officer’s vehicle.

RTMC CEO Makhosini Msibi said these incident showed that no one was immune from the negative consequences of irresponsible behaviour by some motorists.

While the RTMC was working hard together with other authorities to promote safety on roads, “we are concerned that the resources we rely on to ensure safety and security on the roads is diminished by the careless behaviour of some motorists”, Msibi said.

The CEO sent condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of the dead Johannesburg metro officer.