Thirteen die on KZN roads

902 A crime scene expert takes pictures of the scene on 7th street in Linden where 3 men tried to hijack a woman after a chase with the police that started in Robindale. 190208. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

902 A crime scene expert takes pictures of the scene on 7th street in Linden where 3 men tried to hijack a woman after a chase with the police that started in Robindale. 190208. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

Published Dec 21, 2014

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Johannesburg - Thirteen people were killed in road accidents in KwaZulu-Natal over the weekend, paramedics said on Sunday.

“KZN emergency medical services have attended to multiple collisions across the province,” said spokesman Robert McKenzie.

On Sunday morning, one person died and three others were injured when a vehicle overturned and caught alight in Escourt.

Four others died in two accidents on Saturday, one on the R56 in the Harry Gwala district and one on the N2 in Durban.

On Friday night, four people were killed and eight injured when a minibus and car collided on a highway in the Umkhanyakude district near Shikishela on Friday night.

Meanwhile in Gauteng, one person was killed and eight injured when their vehicle rolled down a steep embankment on the N12 in Fochille on Saturday.

In the Western Cape, a motorbike rider was killed when his bike and a car crashed head on in Stellenbosch, on Saturday.

On Friday, a man died and three others were injured when a bakkie and a sedan collided on the R34 outside Welkom in the Free State.

“Bystanders flagged paramedics down and pointed to an area where they managed to pull two children, aged six and ten, and two adults from the bakkie moments before it was engulfed in flames,” said ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak.

Another man was killed on Friday when a bakkie carrying paint rolled on the N4 near Nelspruit, Mpumalanga.

The four other occupants, who were flung from the bakkie, sustained injuries ranging from minor to critical, ER24 spokesman Russel Meiring said in a statement.

Johannesburg metro police arrested 109 people for drunken driving over the weekend.

The arrests took place on the M1, Klein Street in Hillbrow, Bree Street in the CBD, as well as several roads in Rosettenville and Soweto.

Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said more road blocks were expected for the remainder of the festive season.

“Drivers who will be driving above 40 kilometres over the speed limit will be arrested.”

In the Northern Cape, 21 people were arrested for drunken driving over the weekend, the provincial department of transport said.

“So far 2986 vehicles have been stopped and checked with 162

summonses issued for general defects on a vehicle and other infringements,” spokeswoman Keitumetse Moticoe said in a statement.

Department head Steven Jonkers said the biggest concern was drunken driving.

“We will not compromise but will apply the law to its full force. We are coming for those drunk drivers and we are not going to have mercy on them.”

The transport department would release statistics on the festive road deaths on Tuesday next week. - Sapa

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