Cape Town - Two adults and four children were killed in a head-on collision near Touws River on Thursday morning, a Western Cape traffic official said.
Provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa said a car was driving along the N1 from Cape Town when it collided with a truck around 9.30am.
He said the truck had been travelling from Beaufort West, about 40km outside Touws River, when the collision occurred on the notorious “road of death”.
“Apparently the driver of the motor vehicle fell asleep and the vehicle moved over to the right hand side of the road in front of the truck.”
Africa said the children, aged 12 to 15, were apparently on their way to meet their father.
“He was informed of the accident and arrived at the scene devastated.”
The truck driver escaped without injury and the matter was being investigated by police.
Africa was launching the “Safely Home” road safety plan for the festive season, on the same highway closer to Cape Town, when the accident happened.
“This accident was really not [what] we expected and we are saying, enough is enough. We are not going to tolerate this nonsense anymore,” the traffic chief said.
Motorists were asked to take regular breaks on a road trip and stop every 200km or every two hours.
Sapa