Lerato Mbhiza
Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga said while addressing the media on Wednesday that although 1 400 people were killed on South African roads over the festive season, the numbers reflect a 1.7% drop compared to the previous year.
Chikunga said most provinces, with the exception of Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, have low numbers of fatalities.
“During the previous festive season, we had recorded 1,212 fatal crashes and then people who died, we recorded 1,427 and last year we had actually recorded 1,452 and that therefore gives us a decrease of 1.7%.”
She added the festive season period was marked by heavy rainfall and storms, creating challenges for road users.
She said 40.9% of those who died were pedestrians, while passengers accounted for 33.6%, drivers 24.6% and cyclists 0.8%.
“It will be noted very sadly that the majority of those who died were between the ages of 25 and 44.
“The 2023/24 festive period shows that most crashes took place in the evening between 7 pm and 10 pm with the peak between 8 pm and 9 pm. Most fatalities were also recorded on Sundays, which is a new trend,” Chikunga said.
Chikunga said human factors contributed 80,8% of the crashes, environmental factors 10,4% as a result of heavy rainfall and storms that had a big impact on road use, and this whereas vehicle factors contributed 8.8%.
“More than 1.4 million vehicles were stopped and checked in the period under review with 7 820 drivers arrested for among others driving under the influence of alcohol, inconsiderate and reckless driving, producing false documentation and excessive speeding,” Chikunga said.
“The number of fatal crashes for the 2023/24 festive season is 1 184, representing a 2.3% decline compared to the 2022/23 festive season when 1 212 crashes were recorded.
The Transport Department denied claims that the poor state of the country’s roads was a leading cause for road fatalities and attributed the accidents and the fatalities to drunk driving.
Chikunga said provinces were working to improve the quality of roads to avoid a blame game moving forward.
The minister also said it was impossible for over 1,000 deaths in less than 42 days to be blamed on roads.
“Many of these crashes that we are talking about are not even as a result of the potholes, they are not; it’s because of this abuse of alcohol, where the majority of South Africans are just drunk, everybody.”
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