A TOTAL of 1755 people died on South Africa’s roads during the festive season – an 11 percent increase from the 2014 figure of 1535‚ according Transport Minister Dipuo Peters as quoted by Timeslive.
Since the beginning of the December holidays, the Herald has reported weekly on many accidents which have left many dead and scores injured.
The Eastern Cape province accounted for the majority of the fatalities (17.1 percent)‚ closely followed by KwaZulu-Natal (17 percent)‚ Gauteng (15.1 percent)‚ Limpopo (12 percent)‚ Free State (9.9 percent)‚ Western Cape (9.3 percent)‚ Mpumalanga (8.5 percent)‚ North West (7.5 percent) and Northern Cape at (3.6 percent).
* Small motor vehicles accounted for 47.9 percent of total crashes during the festive season‚ light delivery vehicles for 22.7 percent‚ minibuses 10.1 percent and trucks contributed 4.8 percent.
* The majority of those who died were passengers (38.3 percent)‚ followed by pedestrians (34.9 percent. Drivers accounted for 23.9 percent of the deaths and cyclists 2.8 percent.
* Those most affected – drivers as well as passengers and pedestrians – are those aged between 25 and 39 years.
* Children aged between birth and four years contributed to 10.4 percent of pedestrian deaths.
* 74.4 percent of the total fatalities were men.
* The highest number of fatal crashes were recorded on Saturdays (22.2 percent of the total)‚ followed by Fridays and Sundays (18.8 percent and 16.9 percent respectively).
Sourced from Times Live
