Quiet start to Easter for W Cape but traffic deaths hit rest of SA

WHILE the Western Cape had reported no major traffic incidents at publication time last night, a total of 18 people had died in car crashes in the rest of the country just one day into the Easter weekend.

In Limpopo, 10 people, including at least one child, died in a collision on the N1, according to ER24.

When emergency services arrived on scene, they found members of the public trying to extinguish flames after both vehicles caught alight.

“Car parts from both vehicles were spread across the road. On assessment of the scene, paramedics discovered the bodies of 10 patients. One of them was a young child,” an ER24 paramedic said.

“Two of the deceased were found trapped in the bakkie while the remaining eight were found trapped in the taxi and lying outside the vehicle. Unfortunately nothing more could be done for these patients.”

Paramedics treated 12 of the injured on the scene. Six of them were critically injured.

In Port Shepstone in KwaZuluNatal, six people were killed in a head-on collision yesterday.

Road Traffic Management Corporation spokesman Simon Zwane said the accident happened when one of the vehicles drove into oncoming traffic while trying to overtake another vehicle. No further details were immediately available.

A further two people died in another head-on collision yesterday, between a bakkie and a car, on the R29 near Leandra in Mpumalanga.

“When ER24 paramedics arrived on scene, they found both vehicles sitting in the middle of the road. Both vehicles had sustained a serious amount of damage, most of the car parts were spread across the road,” the ambulance service said in a statement.

The drivers of both vehicles were found dead in their vehicles.

In Cape Town on Thursday, local authorities launched Operation Zero, an Easter enforcement plan aimed at seeing zero deaths or serious injuries on identified high-risk routes in the province over the holiday period.

Police spokesman LieutenantColonel Andrè Traut said while they could not divulge details of their strategy, “crime operations are part of our approach to ensure that crime is addressed during this period”.

MEC for Transport and Public Works Donald Grant said high-risk routes had been identified.

Western Cape traffic chief Kenny Africa said: “We are the only province rendering a 24-hour service.”

PICTURE: JASON BOUD CHECKING UP: Police and traffic officers check vehicles leaving Cape Town ahead of the Easter weekend on Thursday. The checkpoint was set up on the N1, just before the Hugenot Tunnel.