Pretoria - The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has appealed to the public to exercise caution on the roads while heading off to their various destinations over the festive season.
"We want to urge users to exercise extremer caution and to obey all the rules and regulations of the roads," RTMC spokesperson Ashref Ismail said on Friday, as traffic on South African roads started to pick up.
"Traffic volumes are expected to pick up ... peaking up until 7pm [tonight]," he said, adding that traffic volumes were likely to slow down as of tomorrow afternoon.
Traffic volumes are expected to pick up on arterial routes like the N1 from Pretoria to Polokwane; the N4 east and west as well as the N1 from Mangaung in all directions.
Earlier this morning, the RMTC reported a head-on collision in which seven people were killed along the N3 between Warden and Villiers.
Five people travelling in a hatchback and two travelling in an MPV died when their vehicles collided.
RMTC called on the public to buckle up as well as advising motorists to make sure that they were well rested before undertaking journeys.
Meanwhile, ER24 said that a driver was in serious condition after crashing his car into the back of a bus along the M13 near Kloof in KwaZulu-Natal this morning.
"It is unclear what caused the driver to crash into the bus but the necessary authorities were on the scene and would investigate the accident further," said ER24's Derrick Banks. - SAnews.gov.za
