Police arrest 39 drivers in Honiara during recent traffic ops

Police in Honiara have arrested 39 vehicle drivers following a traffic operation targeting drink driving from 23-30 January 2019.

Ten drivers were arrested for careless driving, nine for driving an unlicensed motor vehicle, 14 for driving with the presence of alcohol in a person’s blood, one for driving without a driver’s license, one for driving without a valid driving license, three drivers for permitting unlicensed motor vehicle, and one permitting unlicensed driver.

Commissioner of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) Matthew Varley explains: “All 39 defendants have been charged for various traffic offences mentioned earlier on and bailed to appear at the Honiara Magistrates Court on 19 & 26 February 2019.”

He adds: “Out of the total arrests, 14 drivers were for presence of alcohol in person’s blood. This shows that despite the repeated messaging by the police to the public people are not getting the message of don’t drink alcohol and drive a vehicle.”

Commissioner says, “Police will continue to do traffic checks to ensure our roads are safe and our road safety messages are heeded by our people.”

Included in the traffic cases were three careless driving cases involving two vehicles colliding. These are being investigated.

There were also 14 cases of the presence of alcohol in the blood through Random Breath Testing (RBT) of drivers involved in traffic accidents and RBT recorded during a Traffic operation team during the previous week.

During this period no fatal accidents were recorded except for two injuries (male drivers), during a traffic accident along the Kukum Highway at Ranadi opposite the Telekom Re-creation Centre and another accident along Kukum Highway opposite Guzo Point during which a vehicle collided with an electric post.