Cape Town - The City of Cape Town (CoCT) recorded a decline in crashes over the Easter weekend period, with 354 accidents.
This is a decline from 650 crashes in 2021.
According to mayoral committee member for safety and security, Alderman JP Smith, driver behaviour and impatience played a major contributing factor, with driver’s not maintaining sufficient following distance being the largest contributing factor, with 174 incidents.
Another major contributing factor for crashes includes alcohol and cell phone distractions.
Smith said analysis showed an increase in crashes from 4pm until 1am.
“In 2021, Easter weekend fatalities for the CoCT, three were recorded on the Thursday, five on the Friday and 11 on the Saturday.
“Our Freeway Management System (FMS), situated in Goodwood and in partnership with Western Cape Government (WCG) and SANRAL, monitors major routes across the province, with SANRAL overseeing the N1, N2, and both mountain passes.
“The WCG handles other major routes leading out of Cape Town, with the CoCT overseeing the four major routes leading into the City centre.
“In the previous month of March 2022, 230 vehicle crashes were recorded, 53% being multi-vehicle pile-ups, 40% being single-vehicle collisions and 6% pedestrian accidents by the FMS. A huge 85% of accidents in the "stationary vehicle" category occurred with vehicles stationary on the side of the road.
“In March 2022, FMS recorded 48 crashes on CoCT monitored roads, six of them with fatalities, with another 19 pedestrian accidents, seven being fatal,” Smith said.
He said the combined effort with the WCG involved high visibility with units placed at strategic intervals according to the Geospatial data.
“Where stationary vehicles are detected, our closest enforcement vehicles are dispatched to provide a visible warning to approaching vehicles.
“While we are still collecting and collating all statistics, already it is seeming the combined strategic efforts have paid off, with one fatality having been picked up by the CCTV surveillance section compared to three for the previous year,” Smith said.
Smith said while it awaits the remainder of various data streams to be translated into final reports, it appears the CoCT’s previous investment in smart technology and data-led enforcement has saved countless lives.
As people returned from their holiday, Smith said an increase in enforcement would continue throughout the day as motorists returned to Cape Town.
IOL