Why South Africa’s traffic congestion has reached tipping point
Most drivers in South Africa are aware of the significant increase in traffic jams and congestion on our roads.
Reckless driving remains a huge contributor to South Africa’s high road accident toll and the N3TC has expressed concern over the number of reckless drivers on the road.
“It is worrying to note how many drivers, especially at peak times such as school holidays, become impatient in traffic and as a result adopt an unsafe driver behaviour, disregard safety and violate traffic laws,” said Miles le Rouz, transport engineer at N3 Toll Concession (N3TC).
According to Arrive Alive, 713 crashes were recorded on the N3 Toll Route between January and August 2016 and 41% of these crashes were single light motor vehicle crashes with 42.6% of all fatalities recorded during this period being from single vehicle crashes.
Also read: What motorists need to know about Cape Town’s traffic congestion
During the same period, 21.7% of those crashes were caused by single heavy motor vehicles with 11,5% of the total number of fatalities recorded in these crashes.
Aggressive and dangerous driving behaviours such as speeding, tailgating, road rage and lane straddling are just some of the reasons why an increase in accidents is expected over the upcoming holidays.
In addition to accidents and fatalities, these driving behaviours are expected to increase traffic congestion and the N3TC has urged all road users to exercise patience and safety while travelling along these roads.
Expected peak traffic periods for the September/October school holidays:
Friday 30 September – Southbound towards KwaZulu-Natal from 12h00 (midday) to 22h00
Saturday 01 October – Southbound towards KwaZulu-Natal from 16h00 to 12h00 (midday)
Sunday 09 October – Northbound towards Gauteng from 11h00 to 22h00
A risk of uncontrolled veld fires due to extremely dry conditions remains high.
Source: Arrive Alive