Staff Reporter
The Free State is one of the only two provinces not to record a single road fatality during the Easter weekend which claimed 28 lives elsewhere in South Africa.
During the same period last year, 162 people were killed in crashes across the country.
The Free State recorded four deaths in 2019.
The latest statistics, released by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula on Friday, mean there has been an 82 percent drop in deaths on South Africa’s roads this time round thanks to the nationwide lockdown imposed in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“The Easter period was extraordinary as there was limited movement. Despite the lockdown, there were those allowed to travel,” Mbalula said.
“As at the end of the Easter weekend, 26 fatal crashes were recorded, which resulted in 28 fatalities.”
Topping the provinces is Mpumalanga with seven fatalities, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with six, the Eastern Cape with five, Gauteng with three, the Western Cape with three, the North West with three and Limpopo with one.
Apart from the Free State, the Northern Cape is the only other province not record a single road death during the Easter period.
Mbalula said only 11 drivers were arrested for various transgressions as compared to 807 last year and just a single driver was arrested for speeding as compared to 192 from the previous year.
This Easter, the minister said, there were 719 arrests for road traffic laws compared to 1 343 last year, while traffic law enforcement authorities manned 480 roadblocks in which 104 140 vehicles were stopped and checked.