South Africa’s road fatalities decreased by 48% over this year’s Easter holiday compared to the same period in 2018, Transport Minister Blade Nzimande has said.
Releasing the preliminary report on the 2019 Easter Road Safety Campaign in Pretoria on Thursday, Nzimande said the fatalities decreased by 147 deaths from last year’s figures.
In 2018, a total of 309 people died on the roads, while 162 deaths were recorded this year, he said.
The decrease in road fatalities has been attributed to the deployment of law enforcement officials on hazardous roads and lifting the limitation on the overtime payment for officials, the minister added.
“All provinces recorded decreases in the number of fatalities. The highest decrease in absolute figures was recorded by Limpopo Province, with 41 fatalities; followed by KwaZulu-Natal Province with 33 fatalities,” he said.
He urged South Africans to take responsibility when using the roads.
“Although we have significantly reduced our crashes and fatalities on our roads, we can still do better to eradicate this calamity on our roads because one death is one too many,” Nzimande said.
NM/jn/APA