Johannesburg - The Department of Transport ended the 2020 festive season road safety campaign on a positive note after eight provinces recorded a decline in road fatalities.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula and Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) chief executive advocate Makhosini Msibi released the 2020 festive season road statistics from December 1 to January 11 which showed traffic volumes decreased from 1 556 704 in 2019 to 1 419 782.
“Despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the wet weather conditions, our law enforcement officers were out in full force and conducted 2 937 roadblocks where 1 379 191 vehicles were stopped. This resulted in 245 763 traffic fines being issued and a total of 7 309 vehicles were discontinued and 3 386 impounded,” Mbalula said.
The minister said that 4 144 motorists were arrested for offences including driving under the influence of alcohol, excessive speeding, violation of operating permits and possession of false documents.
“While the number demonstrated that the majority of South African respected the law and observed the curfew, a few motorists were on the roads when they should not have been. As a result 31.1% of the crashes happened during the curfew between midnight and 6am,” he said.
Mbalula added that more than half of the fatal crashes occurred on Friday, Saturdays and Sundays. The minister said this suggested that the majority of car crashes took place within residential areas long after travellers had reached their destinations.
The main cause of crashes during the festive season was jaywalking, hit-and-runs, speeding, overtaking into oncoming traffic, wet and slippery surfaces and tyre bursts.
“Overall we recorded a total of 1 448 fatalities from 1 210 fatal crashes. This represents a 7% decline in fatalities and a 10.3% decline in fatal crashes, year-on-year,” Mbalula said.
Mpumalanga was the only province that saw an increase in fatalities of 4.4%. The Western Cape recorded a decline of 15.9% with 152 fatalities; KwaZulu-Natal recorded a 14% decline with 289; Limpopo recorded a decline of 8.3% with 188; Northern Cape recorded a decline of 7.7% with 36; Gauteng recorded a decline of 7.2% with 231; and North West recorded a decline of 2% with 99.
The Eastern Cape and Free State accounted for the lowest decline in fatalities with 328 (1.3% decline from 2019) and 107 fatalities (0.9% decline), respectively.
“It is worth noting that the R71 near Mankweng has dropped from the number one spot to number nine, pointing to the success of the road safety campaign in Limpopo. The R573, known as Moloto Road, which is notorious for road crashes and fatalities, does not appear in the top 20 of hazardous routes this year,” Mbalula said.
He added that two traffic officers, Inspector Tefo Samuel Motaung from Free State and Raymond Masango, a co-ordinator of traffic training delivery at RTMC, were among those who had died on the roads this year. Motaung was killed after he was knocked down by a minibus while on duty and Masango died in a multi-vehicle accident near Harrismith.
“While we have ended the festive season campaign on a positive note, we must remember that our road safety campaign runs for 365 days. From here we are proceeding with the back-to-school leg of the campaign while we make preparations for the Easter peak-travel period,” the minister said.
The Star