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JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng - At least 42 people were killed in road crashes in kwaZulu-Natal and the Northern and Western Cape over the weekend (September 26-28), officials reported on Sunday. Sadly, more figures have yet to be reported from other provinces.
This follows a warning, carried on Wheels24 on September26, that “pay-day weekends” were showing a steady increase in road deaths.
Two of the worse incidents: a bakkie driver is to be charged for the deaths of 13 people; 21 more people were reported killed in the Western Cape.
HARTSWATER HORROR
A man has been arrested in the Northern Cape on charges of culpable homicide after 13 people were killed and 26 were injured when a bakkie and a taxi collided on the N18 near Hartswater. Lieutenant Olebogeng Tawana said on Sunday (September 28): "The passengers from the bakkie were flung off and strewn all over the N18 and others landed in a nearby canal."
The crash occurred on Saturday (Sept 27) afternoon on the road between Taung and Magogong. Four bodies were found in the canal.
Hydraulic cutters were used to free some of those trapped in the taxi, Tawana added, and the injured were taken to hospitals in Hartswater, Taung and Klerksdorp. Twelve people were declared dead at the scene, another died in hospital.
The 59-year-old driver of the bakkie was expected to appear in the Hartswater Magistrate's Court today (Sept 29).
KWAZULU-NATAL - 5 KILLED, 11 INJURED
In kwaZulu-Natal, five people were killed when a taxi overturned in the Uthungulu district near Richards Bay on Saturday (Sept 27), emergency medical services spokesman Robert Mckenzie said. Paramedics found several people trapped in the wreckage; four people died there and a fifth, a three-month-old baby, died in hospital.
He said the vehicle rolled down an embankment after it veered off the steep and winding Oribi Gorge road.
Eleven other people were injured in the crash. One was critically injured, five sustained serious injuries and the other five had minor injuries.
They were treated on the scene before being transported to hospitals in Murchison and Port Shepstone.
COLLISION KILLS 1, INJURES SIX
In other events a man was killed and six people were injured when two cars collided on the R612 near Braemar Sunday, Mckenzie said. A 30-year-old woman was in a critical condition but was stabilised on the scene. The cause of the crash was not known.
In Durban, two men were killed on Sunday when their vehicle his a tree near the Kendra hall on Sydenham Road [John Zikhali Road], rescue care spokesman Garrith Jamieson reported. The vehicle rolled and the men were found lying dead on the road.
WESTERN CAPE - 19 KILLED
Despite Western Cape MEC of transport and public works Donald Grant's pleas for road users to exercise caution over "pay-day weekends", 21 people were killed. The Western Cape's Safely Home Reporter tweeted: "Four drivers, 11 passengers, 1 motorcyclist, five pedestrians = 21 #PayDayBlues in WC this weekend. Sunday night to come."
"WC roads in 2014 = four x Marikanas so far."
Figures for Sunday night (Sept 28) have yet to be reported.
Grant reported: “Analysis of 2014 fatalities data indicates that fatalities on pay day weekends spike by as much as 24% over other weekends. On average, 3.6 people are killed every day on Western Cape roads; this rises to 6.2 over pay weekends. August 2014 had the worst 'pay weekend' of the year - 26 road deaths starting August 1. The next pay day weekend, which began on August 29, saw another 20 people killed.”
HORROR CRIME STATS
In September 2014 the South African Police Service released its crime statistics for April 2013 - March 2014.
Among cases of aggravated robbery, the SAPS reported 11 221 carjackings (12% up on 2013's 9990). The report showed 991 truckjackings (up 5%). There were 56 870 cases of motor vehicle and motorcycle theft, down nearly three percent from the 58 370 in 2013.
