19 road deaths at start of Easter

2011-04-23 07:51

Johannesburg - Paramedics reported that at least 19 people died on South Africa's roads since the start of the Easter holidays on Friday.

In an accident on the N4 near Ngodwana in Mpumalanga 11 people died when two minibus taxis collided head-on on Friday morning just after midnight.

In the Eastern Cape a two-month-old baby and man died in a head-on collision outside Uitenhage in the early hours of Friday morning.

A 23-year-old man died in an accident at around 06:30 outside Butterworth in the Eastern Cape.

In Gauteng one person died and eight others were injured on the province's R82 road near Walkerville, when a taxi collided head-on with a bakkie at 07:00.

Another man died when a taxi and a car collided head-on, along Moloto Road in Pretoria.

Two men died when the bakkie they were travelling in crashed into a tree in Willowmore, Johannesburg on Friday at 19:00.

And in the Free State a 13-year-old boy was killed in a collision on the N3 near Warden, while his parents sustained minor injuries.

Acting chief executive officer of the Road Traffic Management Corporation, Collins Letsoalo, said on Tuesday authorities would be stationed along the major routes and identified hazardous locations to ensure that traffic rules and regulation were obeyed.

"This on-going, hard hitting traffic enforcement is part of the clean-up for Easter and beyond. We want to make sure that people understand that road safety begins with the road user. We cannot continue to accept that people waiting to board public transport have a 50-50% chance of arriving safely."

He urged motorists to take regular breaks and make the journey part of the holiday.

- SAPA