Number of road accidents rises in South Africa

01 August 2010
By Lelethu Mquqo

The Transport Department says more than 18 people were reported killed in road crashes across the country on Friday 30 August 2010 and Saturday31 August 2010.

Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele has conveyed condolences to the families of all those killed in these road crashes. Ndebele says the average of 38 people who lose their lives every day on the country’s roads is totally unacceptable.

One of the measures government is taking is to train 260 officers who will form part of the newly-established National Traffic Law Enforcement Unit.

In KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday, on the R103 at Peace Town near Harrismith, eight people were reported killed and 18 others sustained multiple injuries in a crash between a mini-bus taxi and a motor vehicle.

In Mpumalanga Saturday, on the N17 between Bethal and Louis Trichardt, five people were reported killed and five others injured in a head-on collision between a bakkie and a motor vehicle.

Also in Mpumalanga), on the road from Mhala to Rolle in Thulamahashe, two learners and a teacher were reported killed when a school bus crossing the railway line near the Rolle Train Station in Thulamahashe collided with a train. The bus carrying approximately 60 learners and three teachers was returning to Pretoria from a school tour in Limpopo when the accident occurred in the early hours of the morning.

Also in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday (30 July 2010), on the N2 highway near Shaka's Rock, two boys were killed and their mother and brother were critically injured when they were hit by a car while trying to cross the highway.

And in Johannesburg early this morning (Sunday), 13 people were injured in a 10-vehicle pile-up on N-12 highway. The stretch of the road between the Xavier onramp and the Kliprivier off-ramp has since been reopened. ER24’s Vanessa Jackson says four of the patients were seriously injured. One car was apparently rear-ended, causing it to roll. The other vehicles then crashed into the first two cars.