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Roadsafety Campaign.
Traffic authorities in the Eastern Cape have their hands full as thousands of travelers making their way to various destinations to usher in the New Year.
Driving under the influence of alcohol remains a big concern for law enforcement officials and more than 1300 motorists have already been arrested in connection with this offence since the start of December. They include two public prosecutors from Butterworth and another from KwaBhaca.
The province’s beaches are expected to be a buzz as people will welcome the New Year. This equates to a huge influx of vehicles towards the coastal areas.
But drunk driving remains one of the biggest road safety concerns.
Eastern Cape Transport Department, Unathi Binqose says Officers have been deployed as traffic surges and more arrests may rise.
“We have noticed that a lot of traffic is flowing to our coastal areas we have deployed all our resources our traffic officers will be out in full numbers to ensure we obey the rules of the road and everything we are scared that we have arrested over 1300 drivers and given the fact that we are headed towards the new year we fear that we may add to that number.”
More than one thousand motorists have been arrested for drunken driving in the Eastern Cape since the beginning of December. Provincial Transport spokesperson Unathi Binqose says 275 of those arrests were made between December 24th and 28th. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/YBJxqqzgch
— SABC News Radio (@SABCNews_Radio) December 29, 2025
Motorists and beach goers are equally concerned about their safety during this period.
“We can’t always be pointing the finger to the authorities they can only do so much. It starts with you as a driver and as an individual and be a responsible citizen.”
“Besides the idea of being arrested, there’s killings, there’s having being taken to court being charged for murder if people can listen to their consciousness.”
“I always make that l am vigilant l pay attention to my surroundings especially when I’m driving l make sure that l don’t only drive for myself l also make sure l drive for the other drivers so that l can be able to anticipate any irregular driver”
Parents are also urged to maintain vigilance and exercise due care with their children on the anticipated packed beaches.
