Gauteng has recorded the highest road fatalities to date during the 2023 festive season, Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga said on Friday.
(Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
Gauteng has recorded the highest road fatalities to date during the 2023 festive season, Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga said on Friday.
Briefing the media on the latest provisional road statistics for this period, as well as the mid-term update on the country’s road safety awareness campaign, Chikunga said Gauteng had so far recorded 187 deaths, a 23.8% increase compared with the same period last year.
On 26 November, the department of transport launched its road safety campaign for the festive season, with the aim of reducing crashes on the roads and with a target of cutting road fatalities by 35%.
The campaign targets the five provinces that contribute about 80% of road deaths annually — KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape — with the aim of attaining an overall 25% reduction in fatalities for each province.
Chikunga said the provisional statistics were important in assessing and enhancing the effectiveness of road safety measures during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
“These statistics offer an early insight into the impact of the country’s road safety awareness campaign and help identify trends and areas needing immediate attention,” she said.
As the campaign approached the end of the third week of its six-week duration, data showed that crashes and deaths were increasing in four of these five provinces, Chikunga said.
“The Eastern Cape is the only one of the five provinces that has so far succeeded in reducing crashes and fatalities. However, the period ahead is going to be especially challenging in the holiday destinations, because of the expected increase in traffic, parties, festivities, weddings, and traditional functions,” she added.
The department undertook road safety education awareness campaigns at shopping malls, taxi ranks and garages along freeways, the transport minister said.
“We also rolled out joint campaigns with private sector partners such as FNB [First National Bank], Aware.org, Renault, Mahindra, Santam, and Hollard which boosted our efforts by providing tools of the trade to use in the monitoring of the implementation plans,” she said.
As a result of the joint campaigns, law enforcement officers conducted 423 roadblocks nationally in which 753 823 vehicles were stopped and checked.
“A total of 173 307 infringement notices were issued, 1 333 vehicles were discontinued, 2 619 vehicles were impounded, and 3 573 motorists were arrested for various offences. Drunken driving accounted for 1 114 arrests,” Chikunga said.
She noted that the top five infringements were driving over the speed limit, driving without fastened seat belts, driving without a drivers’ licence, unlicensed vehicles and driving vehicles with smooth tyres.
Chikunga urged drivers to take regular resting intervals during long-distance journeys.
“Ask others to help you stay alive. Without rest at regular intervals along a long journey, you can cause harm not only to yourself but to others too. Take regular breaks and stay alive,” she said.