During the festive season, there is a lot of celebrating to be done and parties to attend. But please, please be careful on the roads. Over 800 people have died on the roads in the last 23 days. These were all accidents that could have been avoided.

Be sensible, if you are on a long journey, take regular rest stops, and don’t drive if you are sleepy. Be passive on the roads: if someone wants to cut you off and drive like a maniac, stay out of their way. Damaged pride is a bad feeling, but death has no feeling, except for family members left behind. And most of all, please do not drink and drive. If you’ve had two or more drinks, get someone else to drive you who is sober, call a taxi or call GoodFellas who will drive you and your car home for you.

Here are some tips from Arrive Alive about staying safe during the festive season:

Drunk Driving and Road Safety

Drunk Driving is one of the biggest threats to Road Safety in South Africa. Research indicates that 50% of people who die on the roads have a blood alcohol concentration above 0.05 gram per 100 millilitres.

Brief Summary:

Legislation:

The National Road Traffic Act (NRTA), Act 93 of 1996 as amended.

Section 65: Driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drug having narcotic effect, or with excessive amount of alcohol in blood or breath

1. No person shall on a public road -
   • (a) drive a vehicle; or
   • (b) occupy the driver’s seat of a motor vehicle the engine of which is running, while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a drug having a narcotic effect.

Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) limits:

Concentration of alcohol in blood: 0,05 gram per 100 millilitres (all drivers), professional drivers: 0,02 gram per 100 millilitres.

Breath alcohol content: 0,24 milligrams per 1000 millilitres (all drivers), professional drivers: 0,10 milligrams per 1000 millilitres.

Any person detained for an alleged contravention of any provision of this section shall not -

(b) during his or her detention smoke until the specimen has been taken, as the case may be.

No person shall refuse that a specimen of blood, or a specimen of breath, be taken of him or her.

Penalties Imposed For Drunk Driving

Section 35: On conviction of certain offences licence and permit shall be suspended for a minimum period and learner’s or driving licence may not be obtained

(1) Subject to subsection (3), every driving licence or every licence and permit of any person convicted of an offence referred to in -

(a) section 61 (1) in the case of death of or serious injury to a person’

(b) section 63 (1) driving recklessly,

(c) section 65 (1), (2) or (5)’

where such person is the holder of a driving licence or a licence and permit, shall be suspended in the case of -

(i) a first offence – for a period of at least six months
(ii) a second offence, for a period of at least five years; or
(ii) a third or subsequent offence, for a period of at least ten years.

For More Information on Drunk Driving also visit:

• Precision Safety Appliances
• Alcohol and Accidents
• Alcohol and Legal Implications
• Alcohol Classification
• Breath Measurement
• Brutal Facts
• Clinical Examination
• Confiscation of Vehicles
• Court Procedure
• Drink and Drive Offences
• Drinking after an Accident
• Drinking and Driving Statistics
• How Much is too Much?
• Medical Legal Facts
• The Blood Test
• The Test/ The Arrest

The new liquor law in the Western cape is due to start in January. Due to the demands of community leaders, the hospitality industry is facing what could be a major threat to their business.

The new laws state:

Liquor may be sold in business centres run from 11:00am to 02:00am of the next day.

Liquor may be sold in residential areas from 11:00am to 23:00am.

If these laws are broken, persons responsible may face a fine up to R30,000, a three year prison sentence or both.

The hospitality industry is in uproar, as what seems to be the ignorant rantings of conservative leaders will directly affect the income and success of nighclubs, bars and restaurants.

Selling booze is how these people make money. It is how they put food on the table for their children and families. And who is complaining about the existing hours of permitted liquor selling? Not many people, that’s for sure. However, the new laws are bringing in the complains, and fast.

As reported on news24.com:

The councillor who chaired the City’s liquor policy task team, Taki Amira, said it had been difficult to please everybody in the drafting of the new by-law.

“With over 3.6 million residents from widely divergent social environments, the City of Cape Town has a responsibility to treat all citizens equally and to help fight the scourge of alcohol abuse,” he said.

“The City has tried to strike a balance between the hospitality industry which preferred longer trading hours, and community leaders who insisted on tighter regulations.”

This saddens us. It saddens us that the people in charge of our city and our laws are so ignorant as to think that by clamping in on the legal hours where liquor can be sold, they will decrease the amount of alcohol abuse occurring in the Western Cape. The fact of the matter is, if people want to drink, they are going to drink, whether it is in a club, or in the street, or at home. Did prohibition teach these people nothing?

Previously, people could go out, have a good time till 4am, and pile in  a taxi and go home to pass out, or do whatever it is that they do afterwards. Now, come 2am, everyone is still in the middle of their evening out on the town in terms of alcohol consumption. So what is the result of the bars closing their liquor sales at this time? People pile into their cars or taxis and go to seek booze elsehwhere: shebeens, the back seat of their car, you name it. What is also likely to happen, is that, instead of consuming R400-R500′s worth of alcohol in say, 6 hours (10pm to 4am), they will cram the same amount of alcohol down their throats from 11pm to 2pm. Half the time, same amount of booze, which means double the trouble. Expect bar fights, alcohol fueled crime and some severely bad driving on the streets of the Western Cape.

However, we are trying to keep an open mind about the new laws. However, alcoholism and alcohol abuse are something far more powerful than what can be stopped by changing liquor laws.

We’re nearing summer at an alarming rate. It was only yesterday we were pulling the blankets out of our cupboards to ward off the cold Winter weather. Now our weekends can be devoted to enjoying the warmer weather and the typical spring events on the Cape Town Calendar. The first one of these in November is Guy Fawkes night.

What guy?

Guy Fawkes in action

On the 5th of November in 1605, Mr Fawkes and his non-recanting-of-their-Catholicism- buddies tried to blow up the houses of parliament to kill the Protestant king and get a Catholic monarch on the throne. Unfortunately for them, the “Gunpowder Plot” was discovered, and they were executed a few months later on the 31st of January 1606. They were hung, drawn and quartered, and their limbs taken to the four corners of the country to warn others against committing acts of treason.

The bonfire part of the event came from the locals making bonfires to celebrate the king’s escape from assassination. In present day, people burn a “guy” on their bonfires, a person made of wood, newspaper, clothes and a mask. In the 19th Century, a person who looked “odd” was called a “guy” but soon this spread to include anything with an xy chromosome. We mean men in general. That is why it’s common to say “I met this guy…” or “I really hate that guy.”

Guy Fawkes' execution

Fireworks

It became popular in the 16th Century to celebrate Guy Fawkes with fireworks. Unfortunately in modern times, we don’t have rolling hills and valleys in which to ignite these colourful treats. Today fireworks are a bit of a nuisance. They scare animals (which is extremely unfair on the poor critters who have no idea what is going on, and become utterly terrified).

For the sites where fireworks are allowed to be released, please take a look at this page where we have compiled a list of places where you can let off fireworks legally.

According to Cape Town Magazine, these are the spots where you can find firework displays happening tonight:

1. Theo Marais Park, Koeberg Road, Milnerton

2. Bishop Lavis Sportsfield, Lavis Drive, Bishop Lavis

3. Wesfleur Sportsfield, Reygersdal Drive, Atlantis

4. Macassar Beach parking area, Macassar Road, Macassar

5. Swartklip Sports Complex, corner Spine and Swartklip Roads, Mitchells Plain

6. Maidens Cove parking area, Victoria Road, Camps Bay

7. Athlone Stadium parking area (Eastern side), Klipfontein Road, Athlone

8. Sunrise Beach parking area, Sunrise Circle, Muizenberg