Fall in Easter road deaths

Alexas_Fotos via pixabay

Mnisi said yesterday: "We are noticing serious observance of the rules of the road - except for speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol, which remain our major concerns."

He said the number of bus and taxi crashes had been on the decline since the Christmas holidays. "Public transport road accidents have decreased. We have a problem with private vehicles driven by young drivers late at night."

He said the police made arrests for speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol throughout the country during the weekend. Road traffic inspectorate spokesman Zinhle Mngomezulu said the highest speed recorded in KwaZulu-Natal during the Easter weekend was at Park Rynie, where a motorcyclist was nabbed doing 227km/h.

The motorcyclist was alleged to have been under the influence of alcohol. By yesterday afternoon, at least 2,500 cars were passing through the Marrianhill toll plaza every hour.

High traffic volumes

The N3 Toll Concession reported heavy traffic on the N3 to Gauteng from around 2pm.

At least 1,390 cars passed through the Mooi River toll plaza, and 1,910 travelled through the Tugela plaza each hour. About 1,860 vehicles went through the Wilge toll plaza and 2,340 through the De Hoek plaza hourly.

Gauteng traffic department spokesman Busaphi Nxumalo said high traffic volumes were expected as holiday makers made their way home yesterday.

The Limpopo traffic department said it expected heavy traffic as millions of people made their way home from the Moria pilgrimage.

But Eastern Cape traffic department spokesman Ncedo Kumbana reported lower traffic volumes than on previous days.

Source: The Times