Pretoria - Law enforcement authorities have intensified their operations in preparation for an increase in traffic volumes expected from tomorrow, says The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).
The RTMC said it has deployed its own National Traffic Police to increase the capacity of traffic officials in provinces such as Limpopo, Free State, Mpumalanga and North West.
It said undercover anti-corruption officers have also been deployed to deal with bribery and corruption between officials and motorists.
“Traffic officers will be maintaining high visibility on all national routes and high accident zones. These will be accompanied by roving road blocks and roadworthiness tests for all vehicles at strategic points,” said the corporation.
Highest increase of traffic
It said an analysis of traffic movement and traffic count on the Thursday before the Easter weekend for the past five years has shown a higher than normal traffic count on major arterial routes out of Gauteng into Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Free State, with the main one being Limpopo due to the Moria gatherings of the two ZCC churches.
The corporation said the highest increase of traffic is usually experienced on the main routes leading out of Gauteng, with the busiest routes being the N1 between Pretoria and Beit-bridge, R71 to Moria, N1 between Johannesburg and Bloemfontein, the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban, N4 between Pretoria and Nelspruit, N1 between Bloemfontein and Cape Town, N2 between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.
Zero tolerance
Motorists are advised that there will be zero tolerance of traffic violations and they should ensure that all passengers wear seatbelts, children be on child restraints, keep within the required speed limits, avoid alcohol and other intoxicating substances and ensure that their vehicles are in a roadworthy state.
Information from these operations indicate that speed and alcohol use by drivers remains a big challenge.
Last weekend, more than 688 drivers were arrested in Johannesburg for drunken driving while a motorcyclist was arrested for driving at 213 kilometres an hour and another was caught doing 227 km/h in Park Rynie in KwaZulu-Natal, according to the RTMC.
Passenger death toll over Easter weekend
The corporation said the percentage of passengers dying due to road crashes over the Easter period has shown a decrease over the past five years.
Statistics from the RTMC indicate that passengers constituted 39 percent of the total number of people who died on the country’s roads last year.
“This was a decrease from 43 percent in 2010,” said the RTMC on Tuesday.
The corporation said the percent contribution of drivers and pedestrians has remained steady at above 25 percent and 30 percent, respectively.
“This reflects a positive contribution that public transport operators have made to improving safety on the roads. Last year, taxis and busses combined were involved in 12 percent of fatal road crashes during the Easter period.
“By far the majority of vehicles that were involved in fatal crashes were small private motor vehicles with 47.4 percent and bakkies 13 percent. The two categories of vehicles contribute more than 50 percent of all fatal crashes.
“A total of 333 people (including drivers and passengers) died on the roads over Easter period last year as compared to the 229 the previous year. A total of 244 died in 2010,” said the corporation. - SAnews.gov.za
