The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has deployed a team to investigate the cause of the accident that killed 10 people on the R34 between Ulundi and Vryheid in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Transport authorities say one of the vehicles allegedly failed to obey a stop sign.
Provincial Transport spokesperson Kwanele Ncalane, says, “The report suggests that it was a head-on collision. Seven people died on the scene, six were taken to Vryheid Provincial Hospital. However, MEC for Transport in Kwazulu-Natal, Peggy Nkonyeni, has already dispatched a team of senior officials to visit the accident scene, but also we have just wrapped up the long Easter weekend, which was the busiest, but was, unfortunately, we recorded a high number of fatalities on our provincial roads. In fact, more than 42 people died on provincial roads, which is quite alarming.”
Meanwhile, more than forty people have been killed on provincial roads this Easter weekend.
Half of W Cape fatalities pedestrians
Twenty-five people have been killed on the Western Cape’s roads during this Easter holiday. The province says it has seen a reduction in the number of road deaths during this period compared to last year.
The Provincial Minister of Transport, Bonginkosi Madikizela released the results of the traffic operations for the Easter weekend.
Provincial Traffic Spokesperson Jandre Bakker says half of the fatalities recorded were pedestrians.
“The number of deaths recorded during Easter weekend this year decreased to 25 compared to the 38 we had in 2019. This is a commendable and significant reduction considering the high number of traffic volumes we had this long weekend. A total of 23 crashes occurred in the reporting period and 25 fatalities were recorded – 8 were drivers, 2 were motorcyclists, 2 were passengers and 13 were pedestrians.”
30 lives lost on Gauteng roads
Gauteng Traffic Police says 30 road users have died on the provincial roads since the begging of the long Easter weekend.
30 lives lost on Gauteng roads:
The Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security And Liaison has advised motorists to exercise extreme caution while on the road. It is reported that at least 40 people lost their lives on the Mpumalanga roads during the Easter holidays.
Departmental Spokesperson Motsi Moeti says many still travel at night during curfew hours.
“We have already lost 40 lives since the commencement of the Easter holidays. This worries us too much because we are on lockdown. Obviously, the curfew starts at 00:00. We would expect some reductions because people are not traveling after midnight. Last year, there was a hard lockdown. So, we only had 6 fatalities. We are encouraging our people to continue to use the road as cautiously as possible so that this number does not grow more than it is already is because we really need to save lives on our roads.”
105 reported to have died on the country’s roads during Easter weekend:
