Mid-term road statistics show decrease in road fatalities

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has released the mid-term road statistics which highlighted a 30% decrease in road fatalities.

During the Festive Season Road Safety Campaign at the Beitbridge border post, Mbalula recorded 589 people dying on roads compared to the 839 last year.

The majority of those who died were pedestrians at 39%, followed by passengers at 34%, drivers at 26%, and cyclists at 1%.

The department’s evaluation indicated that law enforcement interventions were on target and continued to have the desired impact.

“Since the beginning of the festive season campaign, a total of 629,661 vehicles were stopped in 539 roadblocks staged nationwide.”

This year, the number of traffic fines issued was less than those issued over the same period during the previous festive season. A recorded 231,937 traffic fines were issued to motorists for various transgressions of the law.

Another decrease was in the number of arrests, which stood from 3,052 to 2,915, indicating an improvement in driver behaviour.

Mbalula indicated that the department was still concerned with the number of people who continued to drive under the influence of alcohol, which was recorded at 1,397.

• 272 were arrested for driving at excessive speeds and 438 had outstanding warrants of arrests for failing to pay previous traffic fines.
• A total of 489 fatal crashes have been recorded, which is a 25% decrease compared to 656 fatal crashes recorded over the same period last year.
• All provinces recorded a reduction in fatalities, with Gauteng reducing fatalities from 133 last year to 95, KwaZulu Natal went down from 172 to 135, Western Cape from 85 to 54, Eastern Cape from 102 to 81, Free State from 80 to 56, Mpumalanga from 83 to 40.
• Mpumalanga went from 83 to 40, North West from 60 to 36, Limpopo from 94 to 73 and Northern Cape from 29 to 16.

He said the department would intensify efforts on pedestrian and passenger fatalities by ramping up policing inside suburbs, townships, and villages.

(Compiled by Gopolang Moloko)

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