In 2016 it was announced that national Easter road death fatalities on March 29 was down by 46% compared to the same period in 2015.
This was the outlook by former minister of Transport Dipuo Peters, who went on to highlight that preliminary figures indicate 156 people died on the country’s roads from Thursday March 24- 28 in 2016 compared to 287 fatalities from April 2 – 6 April in 2015, this translated into 131 fewer people died.
These are scary figures because they involve human lives, who are related to us.
Justice Project South Africa chairman Howard Dembovsky said the public and school holidays naturally meant that traffic concentrations would have been significantly lower than they would ordinarily be over an Easter long-weekend last year.
Dembovsky said: “A seeming 46% reduction in road fatalities in Easter 2016 is no cause for celebration and it is most certainly no reason for motorists to let their guard down. Defensive driving is key to assuring one’s own and family’s safety on our roads.”
With the bus strike still on nationally, we pray common sense would prevail during the talks and by next week when schools re-open, the strike will be over.
We wish our road users to be vigilant and awake during this time of the Easter holidays, if not everyday of our lives.
