With the festive season already in full swing, Drive Dry, in partnership with the Johannesburg Metro Police Departmen), will be helping to keep Johannesburg’s roads safe from drunk drivers.
At the JMPD awards ceremony attended by Mayor Herman Mashaba last weekend, Drive Dry awarded the top performing JMPD Hero of 2018, Gerald Nxumalo, with a brand-new Volkswagen Polo for impeccable service and for bringing to book those drivers who did not adhere to the rules of the road. The first and second runners-up, Ismael Mgiba and Shumani Netshifume, were rewarded with vouchers to the value of R15 000 and R5 000 respectively.
Drive Dry is a campaign by global alcohol company Diageo, to encourage responsible drinking and aims to combat the abuse of alcohol on South African roads. As such, it sponsored the prizes for the top officers this year.
“The JMPD has produced excellent results in its attempts to reduce crime and drunk driving incidents in Johannesburg during this past year and it is our wish to support them. Diageo sees this as the start of what we hope willbe a long and fruitful partnership in our mutual quest to keep South African roads free of drunk drivers,” said Sibani Mngadi, Diageo’s Corporate Relations Director.
With road safety as the number one priority for both the JMPD and Drive Dry, especially during the notorious “silly season”, the partnership was formed to ensure stringent law enforcement, by rewarding those officers who conducted themselves in a responsible and appropriate manner. Some of the criteria that were used to evaluate the winners inlcuded the number of alcohol screenings they had conducted during the year to determine if drivers were above the legal blood alcohol or beathalyzer limits, their willingness to go beyond the call of duty, whether they behaved professionally at all times, whether they showed respect for the work of their colleagues, whether they used the JMPD resources responsibly, and whether they accepted bribes.
“We cannot ensure the safety of people by working alone. It is through partnerships with private companies like Diageo, that we will be able to reduce the high number of alcohol-related road fatalities,” said Chief of the JMPD, David Tembe.
“We look forward to seeing the results of this partnership and a tougher outcome for those drivers who have no regard for the law or for the safety of others,” said Mayor Herman Mashaba.
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