www.MyPE.co.za: The Eastern Cape has contributed 131 car crashes since the start of the festive season on 1 December 2010 – the third highest number of accidents in the country.
According to preliminary statistics from the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), 1 149 people have died in 958 car crashes from 1 – 28 December.
The most number of crashes, 185, occurred in KwaZulu-Natal, with 169 crashes taking place in Gauteng and 131 in the Eastern Cape.
Some of the major factors contributing to the crashes include speeding, tyre failure, fatigue, dangerous overtaking and drinking and driving.
Given the number of deaths recorded so far, the RTMC, together with its provincial and municipal partners, has vowed to pull out all the stops to ensure that the New Year’s weekend is a safe one for those on the country’s roads.
Motorists can expect multi-disciplinary roadblocks, roadside checkpoints, roving patrols, roving stop and checks, ghost squad patrols and patrol vehicles equipped with moving violation recorders and automatic number plate recognition devices this weekend.
Drunk drivers will also be targeted by the traffic authorities.
“We will show no mercy. If we catch you drinking and driving, you will be arrested and if convicted, have a criminal record for life,” Collins Letsoalo, acting CEO of the RTMC, warned.
Motorists travelling in “severely unroadworthy” vehicles will, over and above a fine, also have the license disc removed and the vehicle discontinued.
A similar fate awaits speedsters who deliberately remove registration plates, display fraudulent plates, obscure plates or use hairspray or laser jammers in order to beat speed cameras. – BuaNews
Editors Note: Dear Collins, your web site could do with a bit of an update – the Road Traffic Reports are a bit erratic and do not follow an accepted naming procedure resulting in idiots such as myself having to hunt for the latest report (April to June 2010).
Also, your latest news publication is dated August 2010 – if we were really serious about saving lives this festive season we would be seeing DAILY updates and tips on how to avoid becoming “just another traffic statistic”.
Come on now, Collins, lets see a little bit more of a pro-active attitude in 2011.
With reference to the April to June 2010 Road Traffic Report the following is of interest:
- Year on year the Western Cape decreased the number of fatal accidents by 13.8%
- Year on year the Eastern Cape increased the number of fatal accidents by 20.43%
- The Eastern Cape number of fatalities per 100,000 human population stood at 26.38 (an increase over 2009’s 20.31)
- The highest rated human factors in fatal car crashes remains speeding (accounting for 34.13% of all fatal accidents), followed by jay walking (26.62%). Encouragingly the influence of alcohol has decreased to being a factor in 1.73% of all fatal accidents.
- The highest contributory road factor to fatal accidents is cited as ‘Poor condition of road surface’
- A tyre burst is the most leading vehicle factor in fatal car crashes.
Alan Straton
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