Drivers who drive while intoxicated or fatigued are the main cause of the high number of road accidents in the North West.
A head-on collision between Koster and Moedwil outside Rustenburg on Wednesday claimed the lives of four people, including three employees of correctional services.
In August, a three-car collision near Wolmaransstad claimed the lives of six people — five women and a male taxi driver.
In September, five people lost their lives following a head-on collision on the N4 highway near Dinokana in Lehurutshe.
Community safety and transport management MEC Wessels Morweng expressed concern about the accidents.
“We will continue to encourage drivers’ behaviour,” said Morweng.
“Overspeeding, driving while fatigued, and, to some extent, alcohol are all possible contributory factors.”
He said that every week, the province loses lives on the roads.
We do not have enough traffic officers
“It is concerning. It has been more than four weeks; every week we are losing more than five lives,” he said.
Morweng was quick to admit that, in addition to reckless driving, his department’s lack of traffic officers contributes to accidents on the province’s roads.
“We do not have enough traffic officers visible on our roads. We have made the call for young people to apply.
“We are making more recruitments; the gap is huge. We need traffic officers,” he added, noting that he is in talks with the MEC for finance to allocate more funds to his department.
“I have engaged the MEC for finance, and she must be able to give me extra money to make more recruitment; this will also assist us to recruit young people and will also reduce youth unemployment.
“As we know, North West is the leading province as far as that [youth unemployment] is concerned, something that we can’t be proud of, something that makes us not sleep as the leaders of the province.”
