About 235 people died over the Easter weekend, a dramatic 88% increase over the 28 killed last year.
This was announced by transport minister Fikile Mbalula at a briefing at the Grasmere toll plaza on the N1 on Thursday.
During this year’s Easter weekend, interprovincial travel was permitted as the country was under lockdown alert level 1 compared to last year when it was under a hard lockdown and travel was not allowed in order to contain the spread of Covid-19.
There were 189 fatal crashes this Easter, with pedestrians accounting for 35% of people who died on the roads. This contrasted with 26 crashes recorded over the same period in 2020.
The provincial breakdown of this year’s Easter road deaths is KwaZulu-Natal (54), Gauteng (36), Limpopo (34), Eastern Cape (27), Western Cape (26), North West (20), Mpumalanga (18), Free State (13) and Northern Cape (7).
The number of drivers arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol was 438 and 112 motorists were arrested for excessive speeding.
This was in sharp contrast with 11 arrested for drunken driving and one for speeding in 2020.
About 28 motorists were arrested for reckless and negligent driving, while two law enforcement officers – a traffic officer and a police captain, were arrested for bribery and corruption.
There were 32,070 traffic fines issued, while traffic law enforcement authorities manned 336 roadblocks in which 178,053 vehicles were stopped and checked.
There were 782 vehicles impounded this Easter, and 823 discontinued.
Mbalula thanked law enforcement officers for “a job well done”.
He criticised those who were not obeying road safety regulations.
“To those who are still refusing to comply, your days are numbered. It is just a matter of time before we catch you and remove you from our roads, for you are a danger to yourselves and society at large,” said Mbalula.
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