Around 44 people have died in the last seven days on the Western Cape’s roads.
According to figures from the province’s Department of Transport and Public Works’ traffic operations – 29 crashes resulted in 36 fatalities as of December 13 to 19.
These include 16 pedestrians, nine passengers, eight drivers, two motorcyclists and a cyclist.
But Monday’s horror crash between a minibus taxi and another vehicle along the N1 between Beaufort West and Leeu Gamka that left eight people dead, brought the death toll to around 44 people over a period of a week.
The department said numerous operations carried out across the province last week saw 20 people arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Around 95 integrated roadblocks, vehicle checkpoints and speed control operations took place and this saw around 32 240 vehicles stopped and checked and resulted in 324 speeding offences recorded, as well as 9 372 fines issued to the value of over R10.4 million.
MEC for Transport and Public Works, Daylin Mitchell said: “I want to thank all law-abiding road users who do not speed, do not drink and drive, who buckle up and ensure that their passengers are buckled up, who ensure that their vehicles are roadworthy and who rest on their journeys.
“You are by far the majority. We will continue to clamp down on those in the wrong. I want to thank every one of our traffic law enforcement officers.
“I urge you not to drink and drive. Even small amounts of alcohol affect your judgement. If you are caught driving under the influence, you could land up with a criminal record. Let’s all aim for #BoozeFreeRoads this festive season, and at every other time of the year.”