Booze to blame for highway deaths

Excessive alcohol consumption and disregard of pedestrian bridges on national freeways have been fingered as possible reasons behind the 400% increase in pedestrian fatalities last year.

Liam Clarke, commercial manager for the Bakwena Platinum Corridor Concessionaire, yester- day expressed his concern for the disturbing increase in deaths.

Clarke urged members of the nearby communities to refrain from crossing freeways on foot.

He said: “Nearly half of the deaths on South African roads are pedestrians. Many of these – 70% – can be attributed to adults walking on roads when they have consumed excessive amounts of alcohol, which impairs their ability to react to adverse situations.”

According to the records of Bakwena, 15 pedestrians had died on freeways between January and May 2017, most of them occurring on the N4 near Bapong village, and that this constituted a “400% increase in pedestrian fatalities during the same period last year”.

“Motorists need to be alert at all times and adhere to the speed limits.”