The Western Cape Minister of Transport and Public Works, Daylin Mitchell, has attributed the increase on road fatalities over the festive season to driver behaviour.
He said the significant increase in comparison to comparable periods in previous years was mostly due to driver behaviour resulting in motorists making hasty and radical decisions regarding the basic rules of the road.
These have often resulted in road crashes which claimed many lives, Mitchell said, as he released the festive report on Tuesday morning, 1 February.
A comparison of overall provincial statistics for fatalities between 1 December and 11 January; in all, there were 207 fatalities during the same period of 2021-’22. This is very high compared to the same period in 2020-’21 and in 2019-’20 where a total of 132 and 157 fatalities were recorded, respectively.
Mitchell said the fatalities are based on the 30-day rule of any person killed during or immediately after a crash or dying as a consequence of a crash within 30 days of such a crash.
He said it was important to note the statistics do not include that of Local Authority Services because their data are not subjected to the stringent verification processes of the Chief Directorate: Traffic Management.
Mitchell said the other contributing factor was the excessively high volumes of traffic experienced on all routes in the Western Cape in comparison to previous years.
In total, 3 877 918 vehicles were sighted on Average Speed Over Distance (ASOD) sites between Wednesday 1 December last year to Tuesday 11 January.
While 1 916 788 vehicles were recorded during the same period in 2020-’21.
According to Mitchell, this increase was due mainly to the travel bans placed on many international destinations that no longer were accessible to South Africa, drawing more visitors to local destinations.
He said: “The Western Cape’s popular tourist attractions drew many tourists, as there were no restrictions placed on accessing these recreational facilities with no stipulated curfew hours.
“We will continually strive to use business intelligence obtained through our electronic systems together with operational experience and historical data to be able to look at improved planning, coordination and effective decision making in the operational environment.
“A change in operational strategies from time to time is needed to deal with the changing operational demands and circumstances,” said Mitchell.
He acknowledged and commended the professional conduct, dedication, sacrifice, and cohesion of all internal and external operational role players during the festive season.
