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Scene of a multiple-vehicle crash in Limpopo which claimed seven lives (22 December 2024)
The carnage continues on South Africa’s roads as another crash has claimed multiple lives, this time in Limpopo.
Seven people were killed and many others injured in a multiple-vehicle pile-up on the N1 in Ga-Phasha, Botlokwa outside Polokwane. The crash involved seven vehicles including a taxi and a truck. The road has since been cleared and is open.
Road Safety | Seven killed in multiple vehicle crash on the N1 in Botlokwa, Limpopo
This incident comes after twelve people were killed in a collision between a minibus and a bakkie on the N2 outside Dutywa in the Eastern Cape.
Authorities say three other people were injured in the crash which happened last night.
This brings the road crash death toll in the two provinces to 19 in the past 24 hours.
Road Safety | N2 crash death toll in the Eastern Cape rises to 12: Unathi Binqose
Botlokwa community leader Thomas Machete laments, “Every year I see the problem of this road, accidents every year. Two days back I did speak about this problem. People must be careful on this road from Matoks because always it’s accident. People must he careful because we have animals that are passing the road, that is another concern – our people always try to cross the road.”
The Limpopo Transport Department and its stakeholders have attributed some of the major crashes in the province to insufficient safety features on roads.
Four of Limpopo’s roads are among the ten most dangerous ones in South Africa.
They include the R81 between Polokwane and Giyani and the R71 between Polokwane and Tzaneen.
Road Safety researcher Talia Ismail elaborates, “The dangerous sections were due to poor visibility and insufficient safety features… for safer pedestrian crossing and traffic coming that are required in these certain areas.
High speed undetected sections are hazards as well, as for that we prioritise for speed limit and pedestrian safety improvement. The R81 rates one star for both vehicle and pedestrian accidents, as well as R22 and R25 have significant crashes and the R528 near the N11 we notice that these experience significant crashes.
