Mbalula says ‘peculiar circumstances’ led to fewer deaths on road during Easter

Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula has announced that 162 people died on South Africa’s roads during the Easter weekend compared to 235 last year.

The minister was briefing the media on Thursday at the Grasmere Toll Plaza.

Mbalula said the country has come from an Easter period characterised by “peculiar circumstances” that impacted the travel patterns of holidaymakers and the department’s Easter road safety campaign.

He said the circumstances of this year’s Easter period also had an impact on the number of vehicles that were involved in road crashes and in the number of people who died on the road.

“This Easter period was marked by incessant rainfalls through out the country and floods that ravaged homes, infrastructure and left many families devastated in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as parts of Eastern Cape. Churches with massive followings, such as the Zion Christian Church, did not have their annual Easter pilgrimage in compliance with the Covid-19 restrictions,” he said.

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Mbalula said the number of cars on the major highways remained the same, except in KwaZulu-Natal where traffic volumes decreased by approximately 21% because of the floods.

“Our analysis shows that while the trend of fatalities per time of the day continues to show that most fatalities occur at night, a new phenomenon was noted this Easter with fatalities showing a sharp spike in the early hours of the morning between 4 and 5am.This includes the bus crash that occurred on the N1 near Leeu Gamka on Good Friday.”

“Crashes declined by 28.6%, resulting in 31.5% decline in the number of fatalities on our roads,” said Mbalula.

“A total of 162 people perished on our roads this year compared to 235 last year, resulting from 134 fatal crashes this year compared to 189 the previous year. Most of the crashes occurred on Friday and Saturday.”

However, according to figures from the Automobile Association (AA), 270 people had died in crashes in 2021 which is 35 more than what Mbalula mentioned.

When asked about why there was a discrepancy in the number of fatalites by The Citizen, the CEO of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) Advocate Makhosini Msibi said the numbers presented by Mbalula are preliminary figures.

“At the heart of everything is the data collection and validation thereto. The figures that the minister gives are the figures that have not finally awaited 30 days. After this announcement, we are going to validate the figures on 30 days… [The reason for this is] there are people who are in hospital as a result of the accidents who may subsequently succumb to their deaths as a result of their accidents,” he said.

Msibi said international norms and standards allows the government 30 days to integrate fatalities into the original count, adding that the AA’s stats is the validated count.

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Mbalula said all provinces recorded a decline in fatalities, except for the Western Cape and Mpumalanga.

Due to the floods, KZN recorded the biggest drop in road fatalities, with a 61% decline from 54 deaths in 2021 to 21 deaths this year.

The Western Cape recorded a 30.8% increase from 26 fatalities in 2021 to 34 this year. Mpumalanga recorded a 27.8% increase from 18 road fatalities the previous year to 23 this year.

Other provinces recording a decline in road fatalities include:

• Northern Cape registered a 57.1% decline from 7 road fatalities the previous year to 3 this year;

• Free State registered a 53.8% decline from 13 deaths the previous year to 6 this year;

• North West registered a 45% decline from 20 deaths the previous year to 11 this year;

• Limpopo registered a 44.1% decline from 34 deaths the previous year to 19 this year;

• Gauteng registered a 33.3% decline from 36 deaths the previous year to 24 this year;

• Eastern Cape registered a 25.9% decline from 27 deaths the previous year to 20 this year.

Traffic fines

Mbalula also said 2,395 traffic fines were issued for speeding this year compared to 5,923 last year.

“At total of 3,494 motorists were fined for operating unlicensed vehicles compared to 5,677 the previous year. 2,134 drivers were fined for driving without fastening seatbelts this year compared to 2,351 the previous year.”