High road toll: ‘Ngema won’t be the last’

Unless there is stricter enforcement of traffic laws and harsher punishments are implemented, legendary South African musician, playwright and choreographer Mbongeni Ngema, 68, will not be the last high-profile death, says a criminologist.

News broke on Wednesday of Ngema’s death in a car crash near Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, on his way home from a funeral. Ngema was reportedly a passenger in the vehicle.

Ngema would not be the last road fatality

Criminologist Professor Jaco Barkhuizen said drivers who caused fatal accidents due to negligence or reckless driving should be prosecuted for a more serious crime, such as manslaughter, or Ngema would not be the last road fatality.

Barkhuizen said South Africa’s fatal crashes would decrease only once traffic laws were strictly enforced.

“There’s always such a high death toll during the holiday season because one group of motorists don’t respect another group,” he said.

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Everyone wanted to get to their respective destinations, howeve,r some thought they were more important than others.

Massive challenge

Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said her department faced a massive challenge heading into the most critical part of the holiday season this weekend.

The mid-term release of 2023-24 festive season statistics showed crashes and fatalities had increased in hotspot provinces.

“The Eastern Cape is the only one of the five provinces that has so far succeeded in reducing crashes and fatalities,” she said.

Chikunga said law enforcement officials had conducted a total of 423 roadblocks nationally, in which 753 823 vehicles were stopped and checked.

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A total of 173 307 infringement notices had been issued, 1 333 vehicles had been taken off the road, 2 619 vehicles had been impounded, 3 573 motorists had been arrested for various offences and 1 114 motorists had been arrested for drunk driving.

“The top five infringements include 40 025 speeding notices issued, 14 110 notices issued for driving without fastened seatbelts, 13 077 notices issued for driving without a driving licence, 15 728 notices issued unlicensed vehicles and 8 597 notices issued for driving vehicles with smooth tyres,” she said.

The highest speed was recorded on the R21 in Gauteng, with a motorist pulled over for travelling at 206km/h in a 120km/h zone.

Highest alcohol content was recorded at Zwelitsha

“The highest alcohol content was recorded at Zwelitsha in the Eastern Cape, where a motorist recorded a breath-alcohol concentration of 1.97 milligrams per 1 000 millilitres of breath.

“The legal limit is 0.24mg/ml of breath.”

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Crashes had decreased by 0.8%, compared to the same period last year, leading to a 4.3% decline in fatalities.

“In total, 719 fatalities have been recorded in the first three weeks of the 2023-24 festive season, compared to 751 in the same period last year,” she said.

Fatal fatal crashes increased during 7pm to 8pm, followed by 10pm to 11pm, and 1am and 2am

Chikunga said fatal crashes had increased during the timeslots 7pm to 8pm, followed by 10pm to 11pm, and 1am and 2am.

“A new phenomenon is the emergence of crashes between 9am and 11am on unusual days, such as Mondays and Tuesdays.”

Chikunga said journeys over Christmas and New Year were the most challenging.

“We must take drastic measures to arrest this situation before it gets worse,” she said.