Easter death toll up 14%
Human error main cause of road fatalities – Transport Minister Blade Nzimande
HUMAN error remains the main cause of road fatalities in South Africa, contributing 89.5% to crashes on the country’s roads over the Easter weekend, Transport Minister Blade Nzimande announced yesterday.
During a media briefing in which he presented a preliminary report into Easter weekend deaths – between March 29 and April 9 – Nzimande revealed that 510 people died on the country’s roads over Easter, up 14% from the 449 road deaths over the same period in 2017.
“The number of pedestrian fatalities increased from 33.8% in 2017 to 37.3%,” said Nzimande.
“An increase was recorded in the number of drivers killed, from 20.5% in 2017 to 25.6%. Passengers were the only user group that experienced a significant decline, from 43% in 2017 to 35.5% this year.”
Meanwhile, ER24 reported that its paramedics attended to 626 road traffic incidents during the same period, including motor, pedestrian, bicycle and motorcycle collisions – 81 more than the previous Easter weekend. The worst day was March 29, with 131 call-outs.
“In 2018 the human factor contributed 89.5% to the crashes,” Nzimande said, “as compared with the 74.3% in 2017.”
“Children under four years of age recorded an increase from 2.6% in 2017 to 7.5% in 2018. Middle-aged individuals between the ages of 50 and 54 also had a sharp increase, from 1.3% in 2017 to 8.4% in 2018.”
The biggest increases were in Northern Cape, North West and Limpopo. Mpumalanga and Free State saw fewer fatalities. – IOL Motoring Staff
THE BIGGEST INCREASES OCCURRED IN THE NORTHERN CAPE, NORTH WEST AND LIMPOPO
Number of deaths per province were: KwaZulu-Natal – 11 Gauteng – 89 Limpopo – 80 Eastern Cape – 59 Mpumalanga – 49 Western Cape – 34 North West – 34 Free State – 27 Northern Cape – 27