Easter Weekend: Almost 100 Lives Lost on Roads, 47 in KZN Alone
- A high number of people lost their lives on the roads during the long Easter weekend from Friday to Monday
- The number of casualties reported in KwaZulu-Natal alone reached a devastating 47, surpassing the number in 2019
- Alcohol had been restricted during this time to avoid casualties and to curb the spread of Covid-19 so in fact the number could have been higher
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The temporary alcohol ban during the Easter weekend did little to lessen unpleasant results as more people died on KwaZulu-Natal's roads during this Easter long weekend than 2019.
KZN reported 47 road casualties during this year's Easter weekend, exceeding the total for 2019 by seven. Road fatalities statistics for 2020 during this period had not been not recorded due to the country being under a hard lockdown as a result of the pandemic.
President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke to the county last week to confirm that alcohol outlets would be temporarily prohibited from trading during the Easter long weekend from Friday to Monday.
Source: Getty Images
Last week, this restriction was implemented to not only curb the spread of the virus during this period but also limit the number of road casualties that usually occur.
Following reports by eNCA a large portion of the fatal road accidents were suffered by pedestrians. 37 Crashes were recorded by the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Department, estimating the death toll on the roads at over 40 people over the Easter weekend.
These accidents are reported to have been as a result of drunk driving, unsafe overtaking and excessive speeding. News24 reported that Peggy Nkonyeni, MEC for Transport and Community Safety Liaison, spoke on Monday. Nkonyeni said most of the crashes were due to driving under the influence.
In other news, Briefly.co.za reported that South African police were attacked when they tried to confiscate liquor from an unlicensed liquor outlet in Muldersdrift. The suspect running the establishment will be charged with contravening the Gauteng Liquor Board legislation for trading in liquor without a licence.
The accused will also be charged with contravening the Disaster Management Act for selling alcohol after 11pm. Facebook users took to the comments section to react to the incident:
Jurie Botes:
"One vehicle destroyed that serves the community bought by the community got burned by the community that it supposed to serve. The very same community is complaining the police take to long and complain about police brutality, well welcome to the world of criminal brutality."
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Source: Briefly News
