Increase in road deaths during Easter 2023
There has been an increase in the number of people who died on the country’s road over the Easter long weekend in 2023. 225 people lost their lives on South African roads for the 2023 Easter weekend, with 185 fatal crashes. At the same time last year, 161 fatalities were recorded with 135 fatal crashes. This means that 64 more people died on the countries roads compared to last year.
Minister of Transport, Sindisiwe Chikunga on
Friday, released the 2023 Easter Road Traffic Statistics at the Road Traffic
Management Corporation offices in Midrand, Gauteng.
Furthermore, the statistics on gender
classification shows that there was a decrease in female fatalities from 28% in
2022 to 19% in 2023 and male fatalities increased from 67% in 2022 to 70%.
Chikunga revealed that the top five traffic
offences identified during the Easter period were speeding, driving unlicensed
vehicles, driving without fastening seatbelts, driving without licences, and
driving vehicles with worn out tyres.
‘’Our law enforcement officers maintained
visibility throughout the period and dealt with the intransigent drivers who
could not resist the temptation to break the rules of the road and share the
space responsibly. As a consequence, 30 934 traffic fines were issued, 430
vehicles were discontinued because of road unworthiness related issues, 1 625
were impounded for displaying invalid or fake discs, and operating in violation
of permits, while 1 716 drivers were arrested for excessive speeding, drunken
driving, reckless and negligent driving, and operating public transport without
permits.’’
‘’The worst speedster was nabbed on the N1 near
Lyttleton in Centurion, Gauteng driving at an excessive speed of 198 kilometres
per hour in a 120-kilometre zone. The
worst drunken driving incident was recorded in the central business district of
Harrismith in the Free State when a driver recorded 1.16 milligrams of alcohol
in 1 000 millilitres of breath. This was 4.8 times more than the legal limit of
0.24 mg in 1 000 ml of breath,’’ she added.
Chikunga, revealed that there was an increase
in fatalities in all provinces, except in Mpumalanga, Western Cape and the
North West
‘’and we congratulate these provinces for the
work well done. The other six provinces that recorded an increase which is
setback that may impact on our ability to attain the goals set out in the
United Nations global road safety campaign to reduce road carnages by half in
2030 if not changed.’’
Most people who died on South African roads
were pedestrians, who accounted for 44,4% of all fatalities, followed by
passengers at 27,7%. Drivers accounted
for 25.6%; cyclists at 1,3% while the road user status of 1%, says Chikunga,
could not be determined.
The minister also revealed that the highest
number of pedestrians died in collisions that occurred in the Western Cape,
Limpopo, Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal.
The highest number of fatalities occurred on
Friday and the lowest number was recorded on Thursday.
Most of the fatalities occurred at 3p.m and 10
o’clock at night and were predominantly characterised by hit and run crashes,
single vehicle overturned, pedestrian collisions and head on collisions.
Human factors, which include reckless and
negligent driving, says Chikunga, was the most prominent contributing factor in
all fatalities at 96,2% followed by road and environmental factors at 4.5%
while vehicle factors were the least contributor at 1,1%.
‘’The unacceptably high contribution of human
factors reflects poor driving habits of our motorists and is also a reflection
of the high number of incompetent drivers on the roads. We are scaling up
anti-corruption interventions including the use of technology such as the
computerised learner licence testing sheets including the smart DLTs which we
saw this morning, which we will be rolling out throughout the country,’’ said
the transport minister.
Furthermore, The statistics on gender
classification shows that there was a decrease in female fatalities from 28% in
2022 to 19% in 2023 and male fatalities increased from 67% in 2022 to 70%.
Ladies and gentlemen allow me to express my
profound disappointment and displeasure at the high rate of crashes and
fatalities experienced during this Easter long weekend.
‘’Most of these are young aspiring
professionals whose careers were beginning to shine. They possessed the skills
that are needed to grow our country’s economy and to reduce poverty,
inequality, and underdevelopment.’’
The Western Cape meanwhile saw a 30.5%
reduction in traffic fatalities over the April long weekend compared to the
same period, last year with a 44.5% reduction on provincial routes and an 11.1%
reduction on municipal routes
26 people lost their lives on Western Cape
roads compared to 36 in 2022
Of the 26 that died on the province’s roads, 16
were pedestrians, 5 were drivers, 3 were passengers, and 2 motorcyclists lost
their lives on the Western Cape roads during this year’s Easter weekend.
The Western Cape’s Mobility MEC, Ricardo
Mackenzie, raised concerns over the number of motorists who were three sheets
to the wind
According to the provincials department, 79
motorists were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Additionally,
nine motorists were arrested for speeding and 373 speeding offences were
recorded.
Mackenize urged road users to obey the rules of
the road
‘’While this reflects positively on our
collective road safety efforts, the 26 lives lost on our roads (compared to 36
last year) bring significant heartache for the families left behind. We must
all continue to take personal responsibility for the actions that either
prevent or cause the tragic crashes that lead to these traffic fatalities.’’
‘’Thank you to the many law-abiding road users
who helped to reduce fatalities this year by sticking to the law and avoiding
risky behavior,’’ he added.
PICTURE: WCGovDone By: Mitchum George
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