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.
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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