MBOMBELA – MEC for community safety, security and liaison Vusi Shongwe has condemned the on-going negligence on the roads that continue to rob the lives of many road users in the province.
This comes after the province recorded twenty eight road crashes and eight fatalities in one weekend.
Shongwe says that road crashes do not only devastate families and the communities but also affect government’s service delivery operations because the money that is supposed to be used on service delivery programmes is now diverted to assist affected families of those involved in crashes.
The weekend crashes include among others one that occurred on Friday on the N4 where a Toyota Corolla hit and killed a cyclist on the Schagen Bridge 30km outside Mbombela.
A case of culpable homicide has been opened and police are still investigating the incident.
In Karino on the N4 road on Saturday, a sedan lost control and overturned killing two people including the driver.
On the same day on R38 near Lowscreek, a bakkie overturned killing one person and seriously injuring two passengers.
In another incident near Masoyi, a pedestrian was killed by a truck at about 19h00 while walking on that road.
Another incident robbed a life of a pedestrian at about 00h10 after being hit by a sedan on R538 near Mahushu Trust. In all the accidents, 20 people were seriously injured and 22 slightly injured.
Meanwhile, 78 motorists were arrested during law enforcement operations that took place between February 9 and 15 all over the province.
Seventy three of these motorists were issued with warrants after failing to pay their traffic fines while two were arrested for drunken driving, other two for overloading and one for driving with false documentation.
Of total, 4 812 fines were issued for different traffic violations while 236 notices were issued to discontinue vehicles and 169 vehicles found with defects were impounded.
