MBOMBELA – Community safety, security and liaison MEC, Mr Vusi Shongwe has welcomed preliminary reports that suggested that fatalities have decreased by about nine per cent compared with last year’s statistics.
The report indicated that from December 2014 to January 4, 2015, the province had recorded 103 fatalities while during the same period last year, 114 people lost their lives.
This year 628 crashes were recorded while 625 were reported last year.
For the same period last year, 449 people sustained serious injuries compared with this year’s 464. Reports further indicated that most crashes were recorded in Ehlanzeni and Gert Sibande regions.
Shongwe has lauded law-enforcement officers and other stakeholders for the role that they played in enhancing road safety.
He has, however, decried the numbers saying one death is one too many, and has appealed to road users to assist government to eliminate accidents and save lives.
Shongwe has also thanked all road users who heeded government’s call to be considerate while driving, saying behaviour has contributed towards reducing fatalities.
He said if more people heard the messages on road safety, more lives would be saved.
“Although the number of fatalities is slightly less compared with last year for the same period, indications are that we still have a lot of work to do to improve road safety in our province. We look forward to the time when we will have no statistics to report, but that can only happen if we all resolve to use the road with extreme vigilance and obey all traffic rules,” he said.
Shongwe said most of the crashes could have been avoided had extra care been taken as some were attributable to drunk driving, dangerous overtaking, excessive speeding and general failure to comply with traffic rules and regulations.
He has therefore urged Justice Crime Prevention and Security to ensure that cases of those who have been arrested for various offences are thoroughly investigated.
Shongwe then called on law-enforcement officers to continue with the same vigour and clamp down on any infringement as roads were expected to become even busier due to schools opening next week.
He said law-enforcement visibility would be heightened during this period to deal with any incidents.
