South Africa has some of the deadliest roads in the world, with the most recent statistics (2009), showing that SA's road fatalities were were 27 deaths per 100,000 people living in the country. Compare this to 16 road deaths per 100,000 people living in the world's most populous nation, China. Most of the road fatalities on South African roads take place in the Mpumalanga Province followed by the Free State Province.
October 2011 was road transport month and during this period, the Department of Transport under the leadership of Minister S'bu Ndebele, used road blocks to clamp down on un-roadworthy vehicles. By all accounts, this this effort was a success, with many un-roadworthy cars, trucks and buses taken off our roads. Typically, the festive season accounts for a majority of South Africa's road deaths. It is my hope that the Department of Transport will be putting as much effort into road safety, with a focus on removing un-roadworthy vehicles of our roads, as they did during October month. A total of 1,551 road deaths were recorded during the period 1 Dec 2010 to 5 Jan 2011, this compares to 1,582 over the same period, the previous year. Anything less than 1,000 over the same period this year will surely be a major improvement. I encourage all road users to be considerate and vigilant over the festive season and Arrive Alive.
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