Unroadworthy Truck Taken off the road paired with a hefty fine

A man has been arrested for driving an un-road worthy truck on the N1 highway near the Atlas Off-ramp.  At around 8:30am while patrolling the highway, members of the Traffic police came across a truck driver in a stationary vehicle who was travelling from Germiston, Gauteng to Mpumalanga. 

Traffic police found a stationary 24-wheeler truck in the middle of the road causing major traffic. The truck driver, a Zimbabwean national, and an operator from the KMB product company did not have documentation. The truck carrying heavy goods, did not have a valid licence disc. The truck loaded goods that are estimated to around 4 million rands.

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Upon inspection of the truck, the officers discovered that the wheeler had numerous defects that include 24 worn out tyres. The tyres were rubbing against each other due to friction and the heavy load. The driver is facing charges of negligent driving, recklessness and operating an un-road worthy vehicle. Both the driver and the operator have been taken into custody. 

The truck has been impounded and a fee of 25 000 rands has been issued, the truck will not be released until the impoundment fee has been paid and the truck defects have been fixed. The suspects are due to make an appearance in court soon.

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The public’s take

Mzansi took to twitter to share their views with one saying, “In a normal society the owner should be arrested”. Stimela added “They arrested the driver leaving the owner, nonsense.”  Adding on to that Stephanus said “Good lawd for allegedly driving an unroadworthy heavy goods vehicle. How much more do you really need to find that these ‘allegations’ are in actual sense the truth”. They should be charged with attempted murder”. 

From January 2021 to September 2022 over 378 people lost their lives in road crashes involving trucks and around 343 sustained injuries. “People have lost families to trucks like these”. One tweep said. Mzansi is concerned about the safety of other motorists on the road, but also expressed their concern for the driver and operator. Media users are finding faults with the truck owner and believe that the one who should be held responsible is the truck owner. “It’s not his truck, why should the messenger be punished, the owner is responsible”. A tweep said.

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