Concern over 3% spike in mid-festive road accidents, caution urged

Transport Minister, Barbara Creecy, has raised concern over the risky behaviour of some motorists.

Creecy says accidents and fatalities on Mzansi’s roads have increased by 3% this festive season, compared to the same time last year.

She was releasing the mid-festive season road safety report in the Western Cape, where she emphasised the need for the curbing of further deaths.

On Monday, 14 people lost their lives in a devasting crash along the N9 in the Eastern Cape.

“We are going to have to divide our forces between the major 20 hotspots and secondary roads. So, our message today to those who avoid us by using our secondary routes is that is not going to happen because we are deploying our forces to those routes. The second decision that we took (to reduce fatalities) is that our provincial authorities will tighten up their relationships, particularly with the metro police, so that we make sure that we are effectively patrolling roads, particularly those roads between settlements where pedestrians are crossing overnight,” Creecy explained.

So far, according to Minister Creecy, 98 pedestrians were nabbed for crossing roads in unsafe places in a bid to reduce the pedestrian death toll.

The Minister also revealed that five provinces, including Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, account for 70% of road fatalities during the festive season, thus far.

She says 426 crashes have been recorded on the country’s roads since the 1st of December, which has resulted in the deaths of 512 people.

According to the Minister, more than 900 of the motorists stopped by authorities were under the influence of alcohol, pushing the number of drivers arrested for various offences to over 3 000.

Creecy has urged motorists and pedestrians to obey the rules of the road at all times.