The Moloto Road, which has already earned the dubious reputation of being one of the deadliest roads in the world, will be under strict scrutiny over the festive season in an attempt to stop the carnage which has left at least 80 people dead this year.
Constant monitoring, an increased number of traffic officials and speed cameras form part of Tshwane metro’s attempts to stop the death and mayhem on the notorious ‘road of death’.
The road, which is undergoing a R10 billion upgrade, is used by about 50 000 people daily, travelling to and from Pretoria in private vehicles and taxis that compete for road space with some 600 buses. A large number of heavy trucks also add to the daily traffic.
In one of the deadliest accidents on the road, 30 lives were claimed in a gruesome collision involving a bus and a truck in November last year. The most recent was a crash last Sunday in which six people were killed. More than 200 people had also been seriously injured on the road over the past year.
The metro this week launched its festive season road safety operation with new traffic technological equipment to assist metro police to enforce the rules of the road.
According to Tshwane metro police chief, Steven Ngobeni, efforts this month would be focused on the Moloto Road, the N1 North and the N1 South, the R21 and the R101.
“We will isolate those roads and offer solutions and accident prevention methods that will be specific to each road,” he said at the launch of the initiative.
Ngobeni said the metro would concentrate mainly on days before the start of major holidays, adding that traditionally, the evenings of 24 and 31 December had proven problematic in the past.
LifeMed ambulances spokesman Frikkie Gouws earlier said reckless driving, speeding and impatience were the causes of most accidents on the Moloto Road, while alcohol played a major role in the evenings and on weekends.
The frequent carnage on the road had also recently earned Moloto a spot on “The World’s Most Dangerous Roads”, a documentary television series by German filmmaker Oliver Becker. Becker spent a week filming traffic and talking to motorists on the R573 (Moloto Road), which runs between the north of Pretoria and Marble Hall.
Other countries where Becker filmed dangerous roads included Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Bangladesh and Bolivia. However, the filmmaker said the Moloto Road was dangerous from a different point of view.
“It is not like the other roads where nature is involved. There are no glaciers, landslides, rock falls or roads hanging on cliff edges,” he said, adding that it was the people on the Moloto Road who were the danger. He listed reckless overtaking and pedestrians carelessly crossing the busy road with beer bottles in hand as examples.
Tshwane executive mayor, Kgosiento Ramokgopa said the key issues the metro would be focusing on during the next few weeks would include the use of safety belts, a clampdown on drinking and driving and urging drivers to take frequent rest breaks to eliminate fatigue. He added that speeding and the lack of safe following distances were also of great concern.
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