Four people died and 16 were injured — one critically — in Cape Town on Saturday morning in one of more than 285 accidents on the country’s roads since the start of the Easter weekend.
In Durbaniville, Netcare 911 spokesperson Nick Dollman said a car collided with a minibus taxi in the early hours of Saturday.
The 16 injured were taken to the Groote Schuur and Tygerberg hospitals.
Dollman said a private ambulance service had sent emergency vehicles to 285 incidents on South Africa’s roads since 11am on Thursday.
These included 248 motor vehicle collisions and 37 pedestrian collisions.
In KwaZulu-Natal, two men died and four people were injured when a BMW ploughed into an embankment on the N2 south, closing the road to traffic for an hour. The injured were airlifted to the Albert Luthuli Hospital.
”Drugs were found in one of the dead men’s pockets and alcohol bottles were found in the vehicle,” road traffic inspectorate spokesperson Zinhle Mngomezulu.
In Durban, there were 14 accidents in which 23 people had died since the start of the Easter weekend, she said.
In the Western Cape, there were 11 fatalities on the roads, said community safety spokesperson Makhaya Mani.
In the Eastern Cape, one person died and nine others were seriously injured on Friday morning when a driver lost control of his vehicle on the N2 between Dutywa and Mthatha. Traffic safety spokesperson Tsepo Machaea said the bakkie was on its way from Tsolo to Port Elizabeth.
In a separate incident, two people died on the N9 between Graaf Reinett and Middelburg, when their vehicle overturned. It is believed that the driver lost control of the vehicle. No other cars were involved.
At Moria, in Limpopo, a motorist was arrested after running over and killing a traffic officer directing thousands of Zion Christian Church members to the Easter pilgrimage.
The driver failed to stop at a traffic control-point and hit the traffic officer in front other traffic officials, said Limpopo roads and transport spokesperson Boiki Tsedu.
The motorist is being held at the Mankweng police station.
The traffic officer was one of 12 people to have died on Limpopo roads since Thursday, said Tsedu.
In Boksburg, on the East Rand, a person died and four were injured on Friday night in a head-on collision near the R103, said Ekurhuleni metro police spokesperson Kobeli Mokheseng.
”It is unclear what caused the accident, but preliminary investigations indicate that a BMW knocked down two pedestrians before the driver lost control and collided head-on with the other vehicle,” he said.
In a roadblock near a toll-plaza on the N17 on Thursday, nine motorists were arrested for drunken driving, said Mokheseng.
One person was arrested for being in possession of drugs, 49 fines were issued and five vehicles were taken off the road for being unroadworthy.
Roadblocks would continue throughout the weekend, he said. – Sapa