The road is notorius for serious accidents. A bus accident in 2010 also claimed 20 lives.
Transport Minister Dipuo Peters on Thursday corrected the tally of people killed on South Africa's roads during the festive season, from 1 276 to 1 376.
The mistake arose due to a typing error in the statement prepared for her by officials, she told reporters in Pretoria at the release of the preliminary festive season road death statistics for the period December 1 2013 to January 7 2014.
"For the period under review, there were 1 147 crashes nationally with 1 376 fatalities," she said.
"It should be understood that these are preliminary figures. It is with a great sense of duty and accountability for us as the transport sector to release to the South African public statistics on road crashes and the impact that the crashes have."
Provincial tallies
Gauteng recorded 223 crashes, which resulted in 268 fatalities, while KwaZulu-Natal had 237 crashes and the highest number of fatalities, 284.
Limpopo had 112 crashes with 134 fatalities, the Eastern Cape 158 accidents with 190 fatalities, and the Free State 101 accidents and 121 fatalities.
In the Western Cape, 95 crashes resulted in 114 fatalities, the North West had 73 crashes and 88 fatalities, and Mpumalanga had 112 accidents and 134 fatalities.
The Northern Cape had 36 crashes which resulted in 43 fatalities. – Sapa