Road safety over festive season a pain in the neck for traffic officials

JOHANNESBURG - The festive season is in full swing and road safety remains a concern.

So far 512 people have died on the country’s roads, which marks a 2.6% increase compared to last year.

Western Cape Mobility MEC Isaac Sileku pointed out some of the concerns officials have noticed on the roads.

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"What we picked up as well during our operations, you'll find that there are people that are still transporting customers without PDPs (professional driving permit), you'll still find people that still have expired disks or licenses.”

Sileku said some motorists seem to be careless despite the presence of traffic police officers, adding pedestrians in some areas are the most vulnerable group with a 45% fatality rate.

"We’ve identified N2 Khayelitsha as one of the hotspots and, of course, in Woodstock, so that's why you'll find our National Traffic Police, they are actually deployed there.”