Pretoria - The death toll on South Africa's roads since the beginning of the festive season has reached over 700, authorities said.
The Road Traffic Management Cooperation said the national preliminary stats showed that a total of 710 people were killed in 592 crashes since the beginning of December.
It blamed high speed, dangerous driving, overloading and fatigue as among the contributory factors for the accidents.
"Motorists are urged to obey speed limits at all times. The higher the speed the lower your re-action time and the greater the braking distance required to avoid a hazard," said a statement.
An official said comparisons to previous years cannot be done at this stage as all the crash reports have not been captured.
The report also shows that incidences of head-on collisions were increasing in many major crashes.
"This trend is extremely worrying as the impact of these types of crashes is most devastating. The nature of overtaking/passing a vehicle on a two way road is very dangerous by virtue of the fact that for the duration of the manoeuvre, the passing vehicle is in a dangerous position".
Motorists were urged to be vigilant when overtaking another vehicle and most importantly ask themselves if it was legal and safe to do so.
