Holiday road deaths up 5 per cent
A 5 per cent increase in road deaths was recorded this last festive season
TRANSPORT Minister Dipuo Peters announced that South Africa experienced a total of 1 714 fatalities over the recent festive season. That is 5 per cent more than the 2015 festive season.
Most of the accidents occurred in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Limpopo. Most of the crashes were as a result of single motor vehicles overturning and head-on collisions. This points to a lot of incompetent drivers, noted the minister.
The minister will move to audit the procedures in which driver’s licences are processed and issued, in order to improve road safety in the country.
According to the minister, there are already plans to reclassify drunken driving from schedule three to schedule five offence. This will allow harsher sentences to be handed down to those who choose to drive while under the influence.
The minister also specified that light motor vehicles contributed to 49 per cent of the accidents, while light delivery vehicles and taxis added 18 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.
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