Road fatalities have increased by 16.5% in Limpopo
A total of 1 685 fatalities were recorded over this festive season which is a 14% increase on the previous period.
These deaths happened between Wednesday, December 1 and Tuesday, January 11.
This was officially announced by the minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula, at Grasmere Toll Plaza on Tuesday, January 18.
According to the report, Limpopo was among the provinces that had an increase in road fatalities with a 16.5% rise.
It has moved from 194 deaths in the previous season to 226 in this period.
Out of the nine provinces, only the Eastern Cape (EC) and KwaZulu-Natal, record a decrease in road fatalities.
EC has documented 210 deaths which is a 7.9% decline from the 2020 season which had 228 fatalities.
“We want to congratulate and commend the EC leadership for the sterling work as they marshalled their troops towards the attainment of this significant reduction,” the minister said.
Also read: Increase in road fatalities shocking and worrying – AA
A total of 605 drivers were arrested for driving at excessive speeds of between 190 km per hour to well above 220 km per hour.
The highest speedster was arrested in Limpopo travelling at 225 km an hour.
The local province also recorded one of the deadliest crashes, a head-on collision claiming 17 lives and injuring eight on the N1 near Mookgophong on Tuesday, January 11.
Mbalula said that human factors have contributed to 79% of the fatal crashes, while road factors were at 11% and vehicles factors only attributed to 10%.
Drinking under the influence, failure to wearing a seatbelt and excessive speeding are still among the reasons which caused the deaths on the road.
Despite all this he also thanked the millions of South Africans who continue to obey the rules on the road and urged them to continue to do so.
