JOHANNESBURG – With almost 600 people having lost their lives on the country’s roads so far, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said driver behaviour remained one of the biggest contributors to the road carnage.
The minister announced the mid-festive season road statistics on Monday.
Mbalula said road safety campaigns were useless if drivers continued to flout road rules.
He has vowed to intensify interventions to reduce road deaths but said South Africans must play their part.
The festive season is one of the country’s busiest periods on South Africans roads.
Hundreds of people have already lost their lives and there’s fear that more will die before the season is over due to bad driver behaviour.
Drunk driving and speeding are two of the leading causes of fatalities.
Mbalula says he wants to prevent any more deaths.
“Our fight against the carnage on our roads remains steadfast, we’ll work hard to utilize every possible avenue in law to oppose bail for those caught speeding in excess of more than 200 km/h in a 120 km/h zone.”
Mbalula said he wanted those who broke road rules to be jailed.