Pretoria - Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele is confident that by the end of October law enforcement authorities will have exceeded their target of stopping one million vehicles a month.
The plan - launched on 1 October and forms part of Transport Month - is to see motorists being subjected to more road blocks and stop and search operations on all major roads across the country.
More than 914 000 vehicles and drivers have been stopped and checked since the beginning of the month.
Ndebele told Parliament on Tuesday that a few weeks ago officials stopped 750 vehicles at a road block in East London, Eastern Cape from which 438 were nabbed for drunk driving, not wearing seatbelts, driving stolen vehicles, unlicensed drivers and taxis without the relevant permits.
"If this is the picture in just one province, we have a serious problem. It is why we experience so many accidents and deaths on our roads," he said.
He vowed authorities would intensify their operations "until South Africans start to behave".
At least 30 people lost their lives in road crashes last weekend including a 15 year-old girl from AIexandra who was killed in an incident involving an alleged unlicensed teenager. Another 19 people were killed in a head-on collision between a mini-bus taxi and a bakkie in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday.
Ndebele said the department was going ahead with plans to introduce road safety lessons at schools across the country. The lessons will target Grade 11 and 12 learners in preparation for their driver learner's licence.
"Already we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Basic Education around this matter. We have already started the process of resuscitating the Junior Traffic Training Centres as well as allowing children to have practical exposure on Road Safety," he added.
