Johannesburg - Twenty-four people have died and 34 others sustained injuries on South Africa's roads since the start of the Easter weekend, according to traffic reports and the Road Traffic Management Corporation on Friday.
“High level investigation teams are being instituted to unearth the causal factors of these crashes,” spokeswoman Thato Mosena said.
Eight people died after a driver lost control of his vehicle and it caught fire on Punda Maria road near the N1 between Makhado and Thohoyandou.
Ten people died and five others were injured when a truck collided with a minibus on the R707 between Petrus Steyn and Lyndley in the Free-State.
“Furthermore on the R34 (Newcastle) in Kwazulu-Natal, a truck driver lost control of his vehicle and it overturned resulting in 17 injuries,” Mosena said.
Mosena said unroadworthy vehicles would be removed and impounded.
“If you don’t have a valid drivers licence, you will spend time in jail.”
Five people died and 12 others were seriously injured on Friday morning in a mini-bus accident on a road between Muden and Weenen near Greytown, Emergency Medical Services spokesman Robert McKenzie said.
Patients were treated on the scene and transported to Greytown Hospital.
“The circumstances resulting in the accident are at this stage not clear and are being investigated by the police,” McKenzie said.
The taxi is thought to have been travelling from Johannesburg to Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal.
A biker died in a collision with a car at the intersection of Bluff Road and Whitehouse Road in Durban at about 5am, Rescue Care spokesman Garrith Jamieson said.
When paramedics arrived on the scene they found the 47-year-old man lying on the road.
“The driver of the other vehicle was not injured in the collision,” Jamieson said. - Sapa