Easter Weekend: Almost 100 Lives Lost on Roads, 47 in KZN Alone

Tuesday, April 06, 2021 at 10:03 AM by Reeshni Chetty

- 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.

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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.

Easter weekend: Almost 100 lives lost on roads, 47 in KZN alone — Over 100 lives were lost over the Easter weekend, 47 of which were in KZN. Image: RODGER BOSCH / AFP
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.