Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC Vusi Shongwe has condemned the ongoing driver negligence on the roads that continue to rob the lives of many road users in the province.
This comes after the province recorded twenty eight road crashes and eight fatalities in one weekend between 13 and16 February 2015.
Shongwe says that road crashes do not only devastate families and the communities but also affect government’s service delivery operations because the money that is supposed to be used on service delivery programmes is now diverted to assist affected families of those involved in crashes.
The weekend crashes include among others one that occurred on Friday, 13 February 2015 on the N4 where a Toyota Corolla hit and killed a cyclist on the Schagen Bridge 30km outside Mbombela. A case of culpable homicide has been opened and police are still investigating the incident.
In Karino on the N4 road on Saturday, 14 February 2014, a sedan lost control and overturned killing two people including the driver at 4h30. On the same day at about 16h30 on R38 near Lowscreek, a bakkie overturned killing one person and seriously injuring two passengers. In another incident near Masoyi, a pedestrian was killed by a truck at about 19h00 while walking on that road.
Another incident robbed a life of a pedestrian at about 00h10 after being hit by a sedan on R538 near Mahushu Trust. In all the accidents, 20 people were seriously injured and 22 slightly injured. Meanwhile, 78 motorists were arrested during law enforcement operations that took place between 9 and 15 February 2015 all over the province. 73 of these motorists are those who have been issued with warrants after failing to pay their traffic fines while two were arrested for drunk driving, other two for overloading and one for driving with false documentation.
Four thousand eight hundred and twelve (4812) fines were issued for different traffic violations while 236 notices were issued to discontinue vehicles and 169 vehicles found with defects were impounded.
Enquiries:
Joseph Mabuza
Tel: 013 766 4055
Cell: 082 678 1450
E-mail: emabuza@mpg.gov.za
