A 23-year-old Cape Town man caught doing 198 km/h in a 60 km/h zone was fined R15 000, while a taxi driver who killed two people after the brakes on his vehicle failed was fined R5 000.
A 23-year-old Cape Town caught travelling at 198 km/h in a 60 km/h zone was fined R15 000 or 15 months in jail for speeding and reckless driving, while a taxi driver who killed two people after the brakes on his vehicle failed was fined R5 000.
The Cape man, Basheer Karriem of Cravenby, was arrested for speeding in Vanguard Drive on Sunday. Arrive Alive manager Tyrone Ludick said the man, driving a BMW, had been racing another motorist. The trapping device had not picked up the speed of the other motorist as it can only register one vehicle at a time.
The reported on Tuesday that Karriem told Goodwood magistrate Paul Louw that he was rushing to get to his sister in Rylands who had asked him to take her baby to hospital.
“Driving at that speed in an urban area is excessive and extremely dangerous. A small thing could have gone wrong with the vehicle, resulting in a fatal accident, costing your life and the lives of other road users. You were in fact on your way to your own funeral,” said Louw in his judgement.
Karriem said he earned between R3 000 and R4 000 and could pay the fine. reported that he will pay it off in R1 000 instalments.
He asked that the court not suspend his licence as he needed it for his work as a manager at an Epping business where he was responsible for deliveries and out-of-office errands. The prosecutor said she had no objection to Karriem keeping his licence as he was a first-time offender.
Meanwhile, the , reported that a taxi driver who drove into a crowd of runners and spectators at a fun run outside Pinetown in August last year, killing two people, was fined R5 000 or three years in jail.
Six other people were hospitalised with serious injuries and two people lost limbs. The brakes on the taxi had failed.
The newspaper reported that the Department of Transport and investigating officers were outraged at the sentencing of Sifiso Mbeje. “A good opportunity to make an example of taxi drivers who show no regard for other’s lives has (been lost). No sentence can adequately compensate for even a single life lost but this defies belief,” said investigating officer Inspector Ramesh Ramdeen.
CARtoday.com reported last year that the taxi had been taken off the road in June last year for not being roadworthy. It seems the owner had been given a chance to fix the problems and had been told to get a new roadworthy certificate, but had not done so.
Ramdeen told the newspaper that the taxi was inspected after the accident. “The entire rear braking system was disengaged and the brake linings and plungers had been removed. In effect, there was a ‘free wheel’ system at the back. The brake fluid was as thin as water and only one tyre was barely appropriate for road use,” he said.
The investigating officer said Mbeje paid the fine on Monday and was released, but Ramdeen would be meeting the prosecution team this week about the possibility of appealing the sentence.
Department of Transport spokesperson Thabang Chiloane said he would support an appeal. “We need all law enforcement agencies to see the same (road safety) message and to act in concert. We want a situation where people will fear going to court for traffic offences. There must be no mercy anywhere,” he said.
What do you think of the outcome of these two cases?