All eyes are on the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport as the 2017 Easter road statistics are being compiled and will soon be released.
Newly appointed Minister of Transport, Joe Maswanganyi will release the road stats on 21 April.
According to the department’s spokesperson, Collen Msibi, law and road enforcement agencies recorded more than 700 000 vehicles entering the province on three major roads on 17 April.
According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation, last year’s Easter road death toll dropped from 287 in 2015, to 156 last year.
However, Msibi said the department expected the numbers to increase this year as two crashes in KwaZulu-Natal claimed the lives of more than 15 people on 17 April.
Taking the Minister through the weighbridge at Mantsole Traffic Control Centre #LetsSaveLives @RAF_SA @TrafficRTMC @GovernmentZA @rtia_aarto pic.twitter.com/MINJjDZj8H
— Department of Transport (@Dotransport) April 17, 2017
Msibi added that during the weekend, the department had issued about 20 000 fines for various traffic offences including drunken driving, speeding as well as reckless and negligent driving.
He explained that more than 800 drivers were arrested for various offences across the country and about 500 public transport vehicles were impounded for operating without operating licences or operating on wrong routes.
Minister Maswanganyi checking blood pressure and sugar level #LetsSaveLives @RAF_SA @TrafficRTMC @GovernmentZA @rtia_aarto @SindiChikunga pic.twitter.com/CYVm3TrA6n
— Department of Transport (@Dotransport) April 16, 2017
“The biggest contributing factor to road crashes that we expected was that motorists wanted to cover long distances in a short time. As a result, moving traffic offences such as speeding, overtaking on barrier lines and overloading were the main contributing factors to road crashes. Fatigue is also a silent killer,” concluded Msibi.
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