South Africa has recorded a massive increase in road crashes with multiple fatalities at the mid-point of the festive season, resulting in 17 crashes this year, compared to seven over the same period in 2020.
According to the Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula, there is a great concern about the high number of major crashes, where five or more people perish in a single incident.
Mbalula released the 2021 Preliminary Festive Season Road Statistics to the media outside Pretoria on Wednesday, December 22 and said that the number of fatalities from major crashes also increased from 34 last year to 111 this year.
“Year-on-year, the number of fatalities has marginally declined by 3.1% from 848 in 2020 to 822 this year. Human factor still remains the main causal factor for most of the crashes during this period,” Mbalula outlined.
Also read: Four die in bus accident on their way to Netball National Championships in Cape Town
Mbalula went on to say the statistics revealed that people who died on the roads this year were passengers at 35%, followed by pedestrians at 34%, drivers at 26%, motorcyclists at 1% and bicycle riders at 1%.
“The vehicle types that had the most contribution to fatal crashes were minibuses, light delivery vehicles and trucks,” he explained.
The minister further mentioned that most fatal crashes happen during the early hours of the morning and early evening.
Meanwhile, authorities in the Western Cape confirmed that more than R10 million in traffic fines have been handed out to motorists in the last week.
According to Transport MEC, Daylin Mitchell, 36 people have also died on the province’s road over the past few days.
“I want to urge all users to never drink and drive. We will find you and if you are found guilty, you will have a criminal record,” Mitchell reiterated.
Read more:
WATCH: CT residents help themselves after truck loses its load
Picture: Unsplash
