THE number of road crashes and fatalities between 1 December and 28 December have decreased slightly compared to last year. According to the latest road crash statistics for the busy festive season period, fatal crashes have decreased by 50 and fatalities were reduced by 25.

Thirty-one per cent of fatal crashes occurred between 10pm and 6am, with 80 percent of the crashes occurring in residential and or built-up areas.

“We have registered 924 fatal crashes with 1143 fatalities, whilst last year during the same period under review we registered 974 fatal crashes with 1168 fatalities,” Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said recently.

“These figures tell a very unpleasant and discouraging story about our human conduct in the usage of our road.”

Minister Peters said the Department of Transport had issued 99 060 summons for exceeding the speed limit, arrested 415 people for excessive speeding with the highest speed recorded being 265km/h.

“Drunken driving remains a major challenge. During the period under review we arrested 904 drivers who were driving under the influence of alcohol and had exceeded the required limit,” she said.