Durban - Hundreds of holidaymakers have been driving towards Durban and the N3 Toll Concession said traffic volumes began steadily increasing from around 5am on the Day of Reconciliation.
Before midday on Thursday, a total of 1 900 vehicles had been processed at the Mooi River Toll Plaza heading towards Durban.
This was according to N3TC Operations Manager Thania Dhoogra who said that while yesterday did not start off as busy as Wednesday, traffic volumes were on the increase as the day was progressing.
“On Wednesday, we saw traffic moving down the route where we started off at about 1 500 vehicles an hour going through the De Hoek toll plaza in both directions at some point we were sitting at around 2400 vehicles going through Mooi toll plaza combined with about 1 600 heading south. There’s a lot of people moving in the Durban direction,” said Dhoogra.
Today, the N3TC expected the route to be busy from midday until about 3pm with high traffic volumes and for this to start dying down from 3pm to 6pm.
Dhoogra said on Saturday they expected to be busy from 6am with high traffic volumes until about 9am.
She said they recommended that all travellers carefully plan and prepare for their road trips.
She said there were no road works from today except essential maintenance work and restrictions may apply in construction zones.
“Construction and rehabilitation work will recommence on Monday,January 4, 2021 in the following sections: Villiers to Schaaprand , Schaaprand to Warden, Warden to Harrismith, Van Reenen’s Pass, Keeversfontein to Sand River, Frere to Midway, Nottingham Road to Cedara. Some of the above sections will remain subject to temporary speed restrictions, and for safety reasons, may continue to be partially barricaded due to incomplete construction,” said Dhoogra.
She said at least two lanes would be open to traffic in each direction along the entire route during December.
Dhoogra said crash data continued to underline the importance of individual driver responsibility with analysis of crash statistics and traffic data on the N3 Toll Route revealing that human error remained the top contributing factor to both light and heavy motor vehicle crashes (69% in case of light motor vehicle and 83% in heavy motor vehicle crashes).
“Of the total number of crashes recorded during 2019, the main types of crashes were single vehicles leaving the road or single vehicles rolling; followed by head-tail collisions; side swipes and multiple pile-ups. These factors all point to negligent driving, including speeding, a general lack of concentration, distractedness, aggressive driving behaviour and ignoring road signs.”
“Mechanical vehicle failure, including brake failure and tyre bursts, contributed to an average of 11% of light motor vehicles crashes and 13% of heavy motor vehicle incidents. These incidents are avoidable by keeping vehicles roadworthy and in good mechanical order.”
Daily News