Despite the exodus of traffic along the South African stretch of our road, 33 accidents were recorded from Thursday the 24th of March 2016 toMonday the 28th of March 2016. Seven of these were reported in Gauteng, 17 in the Highveld and only nine in the Lowveld. This is a notable improvement from 2015 where 42 accidents were recorded during this period. Given that the hourly traffic flow at most of the plazas reached exceptionally high numbers, this is an impressive feat which TRAC attributes to excellent teamwork by all involved in promoting and monitoring road safety along our route.
We are nevertheless, disappointed that we were unable to maintain a zero-fatality count on the South African section of our route as was the case last year. There was one pedestrian fatality in the eMalahleni region thus bringing our Easter fatality count to one.
One of the key contributors to the decreased number of accidents along our route was the TRAC Easter Rescue and Road Safety Campaign. This annual project saw the bulk of Mpumalanga Emergency Services and TRACAssist teams, stationed at the Alzu Petroport in Middelburg, and smaller units deployed to strategic points along the highway. This initiative went a long way in promoting road safety as it boosted visibility of authorities and allowed road users to connect with them to access valuable information and knowledge on road regulations and safety.
The campaign was also held along the Mozambican section of our route – between Ressano Garcia Border Post and Maputo. This region also experienced heavy traffic throughout the Easter period and despite our best efforts, 11 accidents and four fatalities were recorded.
In conclusion; although TRAC acknowledges the decline in road accidents this holiday period, we have no cause to celebrate. Lives were lost, and we believe one fatality on our road is one too many. We do however thank all road users who heeded our call to practice road safety principles, because road safety is everyone’s responsibility and the N4 Toll Route will become safer and better as long as this philosophy is applied by all who use it.
