The province has moved its festive season road safety programme forward following the recent spate of road accidents and five massive accidents on Thursday left 28 dead and 44 injured.
The province has moved its festive season road safety programme forward following the recent spate of road accidents and five massive accidents on Thursday left 28 dead and 44 injured.
The transport department’s road safety committee has decided that all plans for the festive season should be implemented as soon as Monday.
Transport MEC Tasneem Essop said: “Roadblocks will be set up around the province from Monday. There will be an increase in law enforcement and the compulsory stops for public transport will now be extended to the trucking fraternity.”
On Thursday, 21 people were killed in a collision on the N1 between a truck and a bus in the Karoo.
Following the accident, the Transport Minister’s spokeperson, Ndivhuwo Mabaya, said: “We want to know the history of both the truck and the bus… whether the bus was overloaded and when it was last checked for safety.”
The reported that Mabaya said the national department would be sending a forensic team to investigate the cause of the crash.
Less than 24 hours later, thirteen people were killed when an Inter-Cape bus overturned near Graaff-Reinet in the Karoo. The bus was on its way to Johannesburg from Port Elizabeth when the driver lost control on a sharp bend in poor light.
Both the driver and co-driver of the bus died in the crash while one passenger walked way uninjured.
In other incidents in and around Cape Town, three men, all in their 20s, were killed when their white Jetta collided head-on with a green Mercedes-Benz on the Camps Bay side of Kloofnek Road. The driver of the Mercedes was also killed.
Three people were killed when the brakes of the taxi they were travelling in failed, en route from Malmesbury to Atlantis. The taxi driver and two passengers were killed as the taxi, transporting 16 people, hit a pole and a tree.
An hour later, three people were involved in an accident on the N7 near Atlantis when the driver lost control of the truck and it overturned.
In another incident, a bakkie overturned on the R60 between Robertson and Montague injuring 14, two seriously.
Road Accident Victim’s Association spokesperson Henry Shields called on the Transport Department to convene a conference before the “festive season gets into full swing”.
Transport experts say many accidents can be attributed to bad driving and poor maintenance. But some also point to the HIV/Aids epidemic.
Patrick O’Leary, the editor of trucking industry magazine Fleetwatch, said a study had shown that more than 50 per cent of truck drivers were HIV-positive.
The high infection rate, largely spread through prostitution at truck stops, was exacerbating driver fatigue and killing experienced drivers.
