The DA in Mpumalanga has written to the provincial government calling them to increase police and traffic officials’ visibility on all national and provincial roads to reduce road crashes in the upcoming festive season.
Based on information that is contained in the 2021/22 Annual Report for the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison, it is reported that road crashes increased by 12.5% in the province when compared to the previous financial year.
The above-mentioned report noted that in the 2021/22 financial year:
* Slight crashes increased from 5 694 in 2020/21 to 6 305 2021/22.
* A decrease in the number of K78 roadblocks from 46 in 2019/2020 to 42 in 2021/22.
* A decrease in the number of drunken driving operations from 70 in 2019/2020 to 32 in 2021/22.
* And as decrease in the number of vehicles weighed from 970 077 in 2019/2020 to 690 673 in 2021/22.
As the above above statistics further reiterates the correlation between police visibility and vehicle accidents, the DA has written to the MEC for Community Safety, Security and Liaison, Vusi Shongwe, requesting that police and Traffic Road Officials increase visibility and always enforce traffic laws, especially entering the festive season.
We also called on the provincial government to urgently attend to the matter of dilapidated road infrastructure. Roads in the province have always been in a state of disarray and degrade considerably over the past couple of years.
The road networks around the province are ridden with potholes that cause severe damage to cars, pose severe risk to road safety and are also a major deterrent to tourism.