SA traffic stats: Police reveal insane speeds reached by ‘SA’s worst offender’

Fikile Mbalula and the Transport Ministry have shared their preliminary traffic stats for the month of December. The data serves as an indicator of how road safety interventions have made a difference during the busiest time of the year for motorists. Although they’ve enjoyed some marginal success, they still have some ‘speed racers’ to deal with…

Festive traffic stats for December 2020

The good news, though perhaps not worth celebrating, is that deaths on the road compared to last year’s traffic stats have dropped by nearly 6%. However, with 690 fatalities recorded so far in December 2020, the numbers remain stubbornly high. More than 100 000 traffic fines have been dished out in the past 21 days:

• It’s believed 690 people lost their lives on our roads over the period 1 – 20 December 2020.
• The aforementioned total is 5.7% lower than the 732 fatalities recorded over the same period in 2019.
• Six provinces recorded a decline in fatalities.
• However, death rates were up in the Eastern Cape (+21.5%), Limpopo (18.4%), and Mpumalanga (+15.9%).
• An average of 2 439 vehicles per hour were recorded on the N1 from Gauteng to Limpopo.
• The N3 from Johannesburg to Durban recorded an average of 1 547 vehicles per hour.
• A total of 109 529 motorists were issued with traffic fines for various offences.
• Exactly 1 801 vehicles were impounded in the past three weeks.

Speed kills: Free State driver caught going ‘twice the limit’ on N1

However, Mbalula and his colleagues reserved a special mention for one manic motorist who defied the traffic limits on the N1 – by going more than double the maximum speed allowed on the highway. The driver was caught doing an eye-watering 242km/h near Ventersburg in the Free State, and the cops were quick to apprehend this warp-speed offender.

The highest speed was recorded in the N1 near Ventersburg in Free state, where a motorist was caught travelling at 242km an hour. #FestiveStats @MbalulaFikile

— Road Traffic Management Corporation (@TrafficRTMC) December 22, 2020