Since December 1, 512 people have died on the roads, a 3% increase from the same period last year, transport minister Barbara Creecy said on Thursday.
Briefing the media, Creecy expressed concern about the number of road crashes in South Africa.
“[It] is concerning that almost 50% of those who have died were pedestrians,” she said.
“There have been a number of multiple vehicle accidents with multiple fatalities. Many of these occurred in the early hours of the morning and we assume fatigue may have played a role because these involve head-on collisions.”
The department has set up more than 500 roadblocks and arrested 3,000 people since December 1.
“We’ve pulled [off] almost 500,000 vehicles. A third of the arrests were people driving under the influence of alcohol and 250 were people driving at excessive speed.”
Vehicles found to be overloaded or unroadworthy were impounded.
Creecy appealed to the public to play their part in road safety, saying it was a collective responsibility.
“Government can only do so much and road safety is everybody’s responsibility. It is unacceptable that you go partying and get behind a steering wheel. It’s also not acceptable that you go partying and walk down the middle of the road at night. If you are a pedestrian and you are walking, please wear something white so that a vehicle is able to see you in the dark. We are also asking people to take regular breaks, pull over and sleep if they are tired.”
The Road Accident Fund revealed South Africa recorded 7,987 road fatalities during the festive season last year, with pedestrians the most affected.
“A total of 84% of the fatal road crashes resulted from human conduct. Pedestrians and passengers were the most affected road users at 40% and 33% respectively, followed by drivers (26%) and cyclists (1%).”
TimesLIVE