Minister calls for caution on the roads
Transport Minister Dipuo Peters on Sunday called for extra caution on the roads following a horrific crash in which five people died on the M11 outside Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal.
Two women and a man, all believed to be in their mid-30s, and a boy and a girl, believed to be seven and 10 respectively, were killed when the car in which they were travelling apparently left the road near Pepworth, about 12km north of Ladysmith on the N11, and crashed into a bridge before dropping onto railway track electric cables below and catching alight at around 1am on Saturday.
“Following this gruesome road crash, minister Peters makes a plea to road users, motorists, passengers, pedestrians, and the citizenry at large, to exercise extreme caution on the roads at all times,” the transport department said in a statement.
“As the department of transport, we shall enlist the services of our agency, the Road Accident Fund (RAF), to assist the families of the deceased with services made available by the agency during such periods.
“The RAF, as an agency of the department, is a caring arm of government that assists road crash victims with post-crash services, such as funeral arrangements and rehabilitation.”
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) had dispatched a team of crash and incident reconstruction and investigation specialists that would also be assisted by the SA Police Service to investigate the cause of the crash.
The department and the RTMC would continue to ensure compliance and monitoring of all roads.
Intervention by the department would include periodic, integrated operations focused on checking the roadworthiness of heavy vehicles, buses, taxis, and scholar transport, with fines of R50,000 imposed on impounded heavy vehicles and R15,000 for light vehicles.
Mobile roadworthiness testing equipment would be deployed in all provinces and in rural areas to reduce risky unroadworthy vehicles on the roads.
The department would decisively address drunk driving by using, among others, the Dragger breathalyser device, the department said.
“Our heartfelt condolences and our thoughts go to the families, the relatives, and friends of the deceased. May their souls rest in peace,” Peters said.