Local News
24 dead, 48 injured on roads─── 16:22 Fri, 18 Apr 2014
Twenty-four people have died and 48 others sustained injuries on South Africa's roads since the start of the Easter weekend, according to traffic reports and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) on Friday.
"High level investigation teams are being instituted to unearth the causal factors of these crashes," RTMC spokeswoman Thato Mosena said on Friday.
Eight people died after a driver lost control of his vehicle and it caught fire on Punda Maria road near the N1 between Makhado and Thohoyandou, Mosena said.
Ten people died and five others were injured when a truck collided with a minibus on the R707 between Petrus Steyn and Lyndley in the Free-State.
"Furthermore on the R34 (Newcastle) in Kwazulu-Natal, a truck driver lost control of his vehicle and it overturned resulting in 17 injuries," she said.
Mosena said unroadworthy vehicles would be removed and impounded.
"If you don't have a valid drivers licence, you will spend time in jail."
SABC reported that traffic volumes have begun decreasing on main routes through the Free State as thousands of holidaymakers headed for their Easter Weekend destinations.
The traffic count was about 800 vehicles an hour at noon on the N1 north of Bloemfontein.
In earlier reports, five people died and 12 others were seriously injured on Friday morning in a mini-bus accident on a road between Muden and Weenen near Greytown, Emergency Medical Services spokesman Robert McKenzie said.
The taxi is thought to have been travelling from Johannesburg to Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal.
A 47-year-old biker died in a collision with a car at the intersection of Bluff Road and Whitehouse Road in Durban at about 5am, Rescue Care spokesman Garrith Jamieson said.
A woman was critically injured after a hit and run on Friday on Longmore Drive in Crystal Park, Benoni, according to ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak.
The family of 10 was travelling towards Durban when their vehicle overturned five kilometres outside of Harrismith.
- Sapa
