Number of road accidents expected to drop dramatically over the weekend

EASTER road accidents are expected to decrease drastically this year because of the national lockdown.

KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport spokesperson Kwanele Ncalane said they were expecting these Easter holidays to be different from the previous ones.

“We have had to shift all the focus from planning for Easter holidays to focus more on the lockdown and the enforcement of its regulations.

“The lockdown will assist a great deal in terms of drastically reducing road crashes.

“We do have a plan that is part of an integrated lockdown enforcement plan focusing more on the borders of the province,” Ncalane said. He said they didn’t expect much movement during this Easter period as the nation was on lockdown, with church services and gatherings having been suspended.

He said that since the lockdown started over a week ago there had been very few accidents. “I think there was one which happened on the R66, where a taxi travelling from Gauteng to the Eastern Cape… with at least five fatalities, but overall accidents have been reduced.”

He commended motorists for complying, but “there are others who are taking chances and that is why we are mounting roadblocks all over”.

“We are going to be more strict over the Easter weekend because we know many people will come with excuses.

“We will ensure we clamp down on the number of people on the road because even public transport is not allowed to move from one municipality to another; it is only local taxis that are allowed to operate taking people to shop for essential services and to work,” he said.