This is if the Road Traffic Management Corp (RTMC) gets its way in pushing not only for tougher drunk driving rules ahead of the festive season but also to classify it reclassify the offence to a schedule 5 offence in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act. You will then spend at least seven days behind bars before you can be considered for bail.
This is, of course, if a report in the Sunday rag Sunday Times is true. The newspaper is best known for making up news and then winning prizes for it.
According to the rag, the RTMC has proposed to the Department of Justice that driving under the influence (DUI), speeding and reckless or negligent driving be reclassified. They want driving under the influence to become a sheduel 5 offence. This means it will be same ‘kind’ of ‘category’ offence as rape and murder.
Financial costs of road accidents
It also wants arrested drivers to spend seven days behind bars before being considered for bail.
BusinessTech quotes Makhosini Msibi, CEO of the RTMC, who admitted that part of the reasoning behind the proposed rules was due to the rising financial costs of road accidents for the government.
“Currently, if we arrest you for drunk driving you can be granted bail in terms of section 59 of the Criminal Procedure Act, and the senior person at the police station can offer bail,” said Msibi.
“But if we then escalate it to schedule 5 or schedule 6, it should be a formal bail application in court.
“Above all, it must not be automatic, you must spend seven days before you can bring the application for bail,” Msibi said.
