This comes after the Nkangala Region recorded 15 fatalities in crashes in three days, between January 30 and February 1, which were mostly caused by rainy weather over the weekend.
The crashes include, among others, an accident on Friday, January 30 at 18:00 when a minibus, which was travelling from Johannesburg to eMalahleni on the N12, overturned after a tyre burst and killed two passengers. Seven passengers sustained severe injuries.
On Saturday, January 31 at about 01:30, two occupants of a sedan were killed after the vehicle that they were pushing off the road collided with an oncoming vehicle on the R573 (Moloto Road).
Meanwhile on the same day, in Delmas towards eMalahleni, a Toyota Tazz overturned on the N12 after a tyre burst. The driver of the vehicle and a passenger died on the scene, while two other passengers sustained serious injuries. They were taken to Delmas Hospital.
In eMalahleni towards Kriel on the R544 road another crash occurred when a sedan hit a guardrail at about 20:50. Two passengers died on the spot and one passenger was seriously injured and taken to Witbank Hospital.
On Sunday, February 1 a crash occurred on R555 in Middelburg at about 17:00 when a Nissan bakkie (LDV) lost control and collided with a trailer that disconnected from an oncoming sedan and also hit another LDV that lost control due to the impact. Two passengers including a child died on the scene.
Another accident occurred on the same night on the R573 road in Kwamhlanga at about 20:30 after an LDV, which was travelling towards Kwamhlanga collided with another LDV from the opposite direction. One person was killed instantly, while one was seriously injured and rushed to Kwamhlanga Hospital.
“The statistics show that we must pay more attention to these most problematic routes, as they continue to register a lot of crashes. Every road user must become a road safety ambassador to ensure safe driving and report bad driving to law enforcement authorities. Road safety is everybody’s business, let us work together to fight road carnage,” said Shongwe.
Shongwe sent condolences to the families of the deceased and wished those in hospitals a speedy recovery.
