Over 500 lives lost on SA Roads since start of Festive Season

The Department of Transport says it will be intensifying its operations over the rest of the festive season, in order to drastically reduce fatalities on South Africa’s roads.

More than 500 people have died on South Africa’s roads since the start of the festive season. Over 900 motorists have also been arrested for drunk driving.

The Department of Transport released the updated figures during its mid-festive season road safety briefing at Tours River in the Western Cape.

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Law enforcement agencies will be heightening their presence on South Africa’s roads for the rest of the festive season as they aim to clamp down on bad driver behaviour and enforce compliance with traffic laws.

Hundreds of roadblock operations have already been conducted across the country since the first of December.

“Out of those operations, we have arrested 3 000 people. A third of the arrests have been for people who have been driving under the influence of alcohol. 250 have been drivers driving at excessive speeds and of course, we are also concerned that there have been a number of overloaded vehicles with worn tyres and unroadworthy vehicles that we have pulled off the road and impounded,” says Transport Minister Barbara Creecy.

Motorists have been warned to refrain from using apps or other technologies to avoid law enforcement operations.

“It’s very unfortunate that when people are using apps to run away from traffic but when they do that, they are making our job a little difficult for us. We would want them to arrive safely at their destinations but if they don’t work with us it makes it more and more difficult and we have identified the loophole and we are going to make sure that we look at secondary routes where people are trying to divert from our roadblocks and make sure that those who are trying to do it they are not successful,” says MEC Mobility for Western Cape Isaac Sileku.

Most motorists have welcomed the increased law enforcement on the roads while some have highlighted other issues they encountered during their journeys.

Law enforcement officers and emergency personnel have been commended for working hard over the festive period to save lives on South Africa’s roads.

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