Festive period fatalities increase

A more than 10% increase in road fatalities was recorded during the festive period, transport minister Fikile Mbalula said on Tuesday morning.

Mbalula said this during the release of the festive period fatalities statistics during a media briefing at the Grasmere Toll-Plaza.

“A total of 1 685 fatalities were recorded over this festive period which is a 14% increase on the previous period,” he said.

Mbalula said the main causes of these fatalities were jaywalking, speeding, wet or slippery road surfaces, overtaking across barrier lines and poor visibility.

Additional reasons he cited included driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to wear a seatbelt and disregarding road conditions and signs.

“This is the reason why human factors contributed 79% to the occurrence of fatal crashes while road factors contributed 11% and vehicle factors 10%,” he said.

Bringing the statistics closer to home, Mbalula said 15,5% more accidents were recorded during the festive period in the Gauteng province.

This translated to 275 fatalities compared to 238 during the previous festive period.

The most significant increase in fatalities was recorded in the Northern Cape.

“It is disturbing to note that the Northern Cape recorded the highest increase (97%), moving from 33 fatalities in the previous period to 65 in this period,” he said.

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Another significant increase was recorded in the Western Cape.

Fatalities in the Western Cape increased by 55,6%.

This translated to 207 fatalities during this festive period compared to 133 fatalities in the previous festive period.

“We need to get to the root cause of this drastic increase and address it decisively,” Mbalula said.

Other provinces which recorded increases in the number of fatalities included the North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

Mbalula said it was alarming that more fatalities per accident were recorded during this festive period compared to those in the past.

“This resulted in higher passenger fatalities this year compared to the previous period. Passenger fatalities constituted 38% in the current period compared to the previous 32%,” he said.

In the pedestrian fatalities category, a 10% decrease was recorded.

“Pedestrian fatalities significantly decreased from 41% previously to 31% in the current reporting period,” Mbalula said.

However, an increase was recorded in the driver fatalities category.

“Driver fatalities increased from 27% in the previous period to 28% in this period while cyclist fatalities increased from 1% in the previous period to 3% in the current period,” he said.

The majority of the fatal crashes were said to have involved light motor vehicles, followed by light delivery vehicles, minibuses and trucks.

“The figures indicate that many vehicles involved in fatal crashes had a high number of occupants and most crashes occurred between 17:00 and 19:00 particularly on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Light motor cars were said to have contributed to 49% of the crashes while light delivery vehicles contributed to 17% thereof; minibus taxis contributed 8% and trucks 6%.

“The taxi and freight industries must do more to reduce the number of crashes caused by their vehicles as they contributed higher fatalities per crash compared to other vehicles,” Mbalula said.

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