Monday, December 21, 1998
The high number of trucks involved in crashes in KwaZulu-Natal has prompted an appeal to truckers to check their vehicles before taking to the road.
"Abour 80% of the crashes we are dealing with involve light and heavy commercial vehicles," a spokesman for the KZN Provincial Traffic said at the weekend.
"We have had cases of trucks with bad brakes and appeal to truck operators and drivers to make sure their vehicles are properly checked for road worthiness. We also appeal to truck drivers to abide by traffic regulations. We see drivers freewheeling down declies and not shifting down gears as well as overtaking on barrier lines. This can cause crashes".
Statistics collated by the Arrive Alive national information centre indicate that the involvement of heavy commercial vehicles in fatal accidents has almost doubled from 7% to 13% compared with previous summer holidays.
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
Pedestrians jay-walking or, in some cases, lying drunk in the road were again the highest contributory factor in all road fatalities reported to date.
High speed was the next highest contributory factor and this, coupled with bad weather and the fact that alcohol plays a role in some 60% of fatal crashes, serves as another warning to motorists to be ultra cautious during the forthcoming festive days.
Driver fatigue, illegal overtaking and following too close are other factors.
Because of bad weather and flooded road conditions in various parts of the country, Arrive Alive has once again stressed the iportance of proper vehicle checks, especially tyres.
"The importance of fitting proper tyres and maintaining current tyre pressures can not be underestimated. A single worn tyre can cause the death of more than one person. In only three days, nine people died in a crash near Naboomspruit, another four died near Messina and a further two near Jankempdorp. In each case, the crash occurred after one of the tyres had allegedly burst, says Perry Perirenyatwa.
Worn tyres, speeding and overloading make a lethal cocktail, especially in KZN where many of the fatal accidents happened in wet or misty conditions.
"In rainy conditions, reduce speed to well below the speed limit, increase travelling distances between vehicles, and switch on the main lights, not the parking lights," Perry said.
Meanwhile, this weekend it was death, carnage and chaos in the Beaufort West region, notorious for the number of southbound drivers who fall asleep here while heading for Cape Town and East London.
It started on an ominous note on Friday, when members of the SA Police Services, the SA Defence Force and local provincial traffic police offers set up a road block from 6am to 6pm near Prince Albert on the N1, stopping southbound travellers.
More than 100 people were caught for various offences. A total of 72 drivers were fined for driving unlicensed vehicles, 30 for not possessing or carrying valid drivers's licenses and five for defective lights.
"We checked specifically for drunken drivers, but found none," said Mr. William Gordon, Arrive Alive area manager for the Central and Little Karoo.
He confirmed this is more or less the spot where people from Johannesburg driving to Cape Town or turning off to the Eastern Cape fall asleep. A number of speeding offences were recorded and the drivers concerned would be identified. "At 10pm, after the road block had been lifted, a bus overturned at the same spot to evade crashing into a heavy vehicle. One person was killed and 59 were injure," says Gordon.
He reported four other crashes in the area over the weekend in which a further three people were killed and more than 30 injured, six seriously. The worst was a crash involving two minibuses and a light delivery vehicle crashing into one another. The lightest involved a lone lady driver who fell asleep, overturned her car, but was only slightly injured.
Said Dr Freddie Strauss, of the Beaufort West Provincial Hospital, at noon yesterday (Sunday): "We have been working for 24-hours for two days to operate and treat the injured. We have ad cutbacks and are under-equipped. It is tragic to see how people who drive vehicles that are not road worthy and who overload minibus taxis disregard the message from the Arrive Alive campaign. Often, these drivers are under pressure from passengers to meet deadlines. Then they become too tired to stay awake."
A spokesperson for Netcare 911 reported only two helicopter flights were launched for accident-related missions in urban areas, but that emergency base cars had been "quite busy" inn the Durban-Richards Bay area. She appealed to the public that if people were not sure which emergency service to dial, they should telephone Netcare's national control number - 082 911 - and the appropriate service would be alerted.
Statistics collected since December 1 1998 indicate that most fatalities occurred outside cities and towns. Routes and route sections that have claimed lives since the start of this holiday season already include:
Western Cape
Eastern Cape
Northern Cape
KwaZulu Natal
North West
Gauteng
Mpumalanga
Northern Province
Free State
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Drivers are urged to be patient with truck drivers who will not pull out into the emergency lane. Some truck drivers have been instructed by their employers not to perform this courteous manoeuvre because they run the risk of running into a stationary vehicle when not being allowed back into the traffic flow.
Up to date statistics of road fatalities are available from the ARRIVE ALIVE Information Centre (012) 309 3669, which operates from 8am to 5 pm daily.
Fatal crashes reported by the SAPS from 01/12/98 to 12:00 on 21/12/98
PROVINCE FATAL DRIVERS PASSENGERS PEDESTRAINS TOTAL CRASHES DEATHS Gauteng 51 25 9 26 60 KwaZulu Natal 56 22 36 25 83 Western Cape 28 10 15 13 38 Northern Cape 15 10 4 3 17 Eastern Cape 34 25 11 16 52 North West 16 6 10 5 21 Northern Province 13 10 16 3 29 Mpumalanga 19 12 20 7 39 Free State 21 11 11 8 30 National Total 253 131 132 106 369
Issued on behalf of: National Department of Transport Contact: Perry Parirenyatwa Telephone: (012) 309 3810
Issued by: Sasani Communications Contact: Sylvia Ortlieb Telephone: 011 784 2598