The SIX most dangerous roads in South Africa this festive season

The Division of Transport has issued a stark warning to motorists as tens of millions of South Africans put together to hit the roads for the festive season, highlighting the nation’s most harmful routes and urging highway customers to take private accountability to save lots of lives.

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy launched the 365-day Arrive Alive Highway Security Marketing campaign initially of December, stressing that safer roads rely largely on the behaviour of drivers, passengers and pedestrians.

“Most crashes on our roads should not accidents within the true sense of the phrase. They’re preventable and overwhelmingly linked to human behaviour,” Creecy mentioned.

Highway deaths down – however nonetheless unacceptably excessive

Creecy famous a major milestone this yr: for the primary time in 5 years, South Africa’s nationwide highway dying toll has dropped, with round 700 fewer fatalities recorded.

Nonetheless, she cautioned that the general image stays troubling, with greater than 9 400 folks killed on the roads thus far this yr.

“That quantity is way, a lot too excessive,” she mentioned.

Information collected all year long exhibits that human error accounts for 9 out of each 10 crashes, with Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape, Japanese Cape and Limpopo recording the very best variety of deadly accidents.

Pedestrians stay probably the most weak highway customers, accounting for greater than half of all highway deaths.

Excessive-risk durations and enforcement blitz

Authorities have warned that weekend journey, late-night driving and long-distance journeys the place fatigue units in are probably the most harmful occasions on South Africa’s roads.

As a part of the festive season security plan, legislation enforcement will enhance visibility and conduct 24-hour patrols, with intensified roadblocks specializing in:

Car roadworthiness

Legitimate driver’s licences

Seatbelt and child-restraint compliance

Dashing and drunk driving

South Africa’s most harmful roads

The Vehicle Affiliation of South Africa (AA) has urged motorists to depend on verified knowledge when assessing highway threat.

In keeping with the Division of Transport and highway security experiences, a number of routes constantly emerge as probably the most harmful, particularly throughout peak vacation journey.

These embrace:

N1 (Pretoria-Polokwane, Cape City-Johannesburg): Excessive site visitors volumes and reckless overtaking

N2 (Cape City-Durban, significantly in KwaZulu-Natal): Dashing, drunk driving and heavy pedestrian exercise

N3 (Johannesburg-Durban): Congestion, vans and long-distance buses

N4 (Pretoria-Mpumalanga-Mozambique): Well-liked vacationer and cross-border route, with fatigue and dashing dangers

N12 (Johannesburg-Kimberley): Lengthy enforcement-free stretches

Provincial roads such because the R61 (Japanese Cape) and R71 (Limpopo): Poor highway situations and combined site visitors

Key security recommendation for vacation travellers

Highway security specialists and insurers have urged motorists to take additional precautions, together with:

Sustaining protected following distances and fixed consciousness

By no means mixing alcohol and driving

Obeying velocity limits and adjusting for climate and highway situations

Checking automobiles earlier than lengthy journeys

Taking breaks each two hours to fight fatigue

Avoiding overloading automobiles

Sporting seatbelts and utilizing correct youngster restraints

Planning routes to keep away from broken roads, peak congestion and extreme climate

As festive journey ramps up, authorities have reiterated that each highway consumer has a job to play in guaranteeing that households arrive safely at their locations.

Will you be travelling on any of these roads this festive season?

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