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Although slightly less crashes and road fatalities were reported in the Northern Cape during the festive season, the battle against excessive speeding and other unsafe behaviour on national roads is far from won.
According to information from the Northern Cape Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison, crashes were reduced by eight (41 during the 2022-’23 Arrive Alive Festive Season Road Safety campaign against 49 in 2021-’22) and road fatalities by 14 (51 in 2022-’23 and 65 in 2021-’22).
Rennie Andrias, media spokesperson, said a significant number of crashes happened between Thursday nights and Saturday nights, from 21:00 to 04:00.
He said the John Taolo Gaetsewe District had an increase in crashes and the most fatalities, with 17 people losing their lives. A decrease was seen in the other districts.
The highest speed transgression recording happened on the N1 near Richmond in the Pixley Ka Seme District, where a driver was speeding at 184 km/h in a 120 km/h zone.
On 23 December, on the N18 between Warrenton and Jan Kempdorp in the Frances Baard District, a major fatal crash involving three vehicles resulted in six fatalities.
Other statistics
It has been confirmed that:
- 27 524 vehicles were stopped;
- 27 of the K78 type roadblocks were executed (approved by the national police commissioner);
- 2 864 drivers were tested for alcohol;
- 13 drivers were arrested for excessive speeding;
- 3 652 notices were issued;
- 586 persons were fined for driving without a licence;
- 731 people were fined for exceeding the speed limit; and
- 244 unlicensed vehicles were detected and fined.
This was executed by 96 provincial road traffic officers on Northern Cape roads, complemented by municipal traffic officers and the police.
“More work will be done to root out corruption at driver licence testing centres where the journey to become a responsible driver commences,” the department stated.
The department, under the stewardship of Nomandla Bloem, expresses its gratitude to traffic law enforcement officers and police members who worked rigorously during the festive season.
