KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala has welcomed the drop in the number of road crashes and fatalities on the province’s roads during the festive season.
Zikalala says traffic authorities should now build on the current improvement.
“So far that has been a reduction in road fatalities – road accidents have taken a lot of people during the festive season in KwaZulu-Natal. We have seen a reduction of 15 percent to date, meaning that if you compare the previous period, especially before the lockdown and last year, you can see there was a reduction of 15 percent but still that is not enough, we must reach a point where road accidents are no longer a concern.”
Western Cape road fatalities
The Provincial Traffic Department in the Western Cape says at least 35 people have been killed on their roads in the past ten days.
The department says these figures are however considerably lower than Christmas time.
Department spokesperson Jandre Bakker says they’ve also made 55 traffic-related arrests of which more than half were for drunk driving.
Bakker says they expect traffic volumes to increase in the coming days.
“Traffic volumes were higher as people returned home after the New Year but fatalities were lower. As the province prepares for motorists to return to their destinations for the start of the 2022 academic and working year, we appeal to all road users to practice patience, avoid reckless and negligent driving, rest efficiently after every two hours and to be considerate to all road users and vehicle types while travelling on our roads,” says Bakker.
