Johannesburg - Nineteen people have died and 28 been left injured in road accidents reported by various officials across the country on Saturday.
The most deadly accident reported on Saturday took place on the road between Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp and claimed four lives.
“Three people died before the arrival of paramedics. One person was critically injured and another person died on the scene due to the extensive injuries sustained,” said Netcare 911 spokeswoman Santi Steinmann.
The accident happened when a car collided with a delivery van on Saturday morning.
Three people were left dead and three injured in an accident in Limpopo when two bakkies collided on the N1 South on Friday night, the provincial roads and transport department reported.
According to police, two people were killed in the North West when their vehicle overturned near Biesiesvlei. Police spokeswoman Captain Adéle Myburgh said the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle on the stretch of road between Lichtenburg and Sannieshof on Friday.
Two other occupants of the vehicle were injured and taken to a local hospital.
In a fourth accident, two people were killed and eight injured after the vehicle they were travelling in overturned on the N3 near Balgowan on Saturday morning.
ER24 paramedics spokesman Derrick Banks said passengers from the Toyota Venture were found strewn across the freeway.
In a Free State accident, two people were killed in a head-on collision involving a car and a heavy goods truck on the R26 outside Bethlehem on Saturday.
Netcare 911 spokeswoman Santi Steinmann said two other people were left critically injured and a third seriously injured.
A one-year-old child was amongst six people killed in the Western Cape over the weekend, said the provincial community safety department's chief traffic director Kenny Africa.
The driver of the car the child was travelling in, fell asleep at the wheel as the family was on route from Aberdeen to Beaufort West. The car overturned.
In Doornfontein, a driver and his two passengers died after he lost control of his vehicle on Friday night.
In another incident two woman died in a collision involving three vehicles on the N1 outside Touwsrivier.
Africa said that the province has experienced 114 fatalities in December thus far. Fatigue was a major cause of these.
An accident in which a bakkie overturned in Grahamstown on Saturday morning left 12 people seriously injured, said paramedics.
One person was injured when two vehicles collided in Tongaat in Kwa Zulu Natal. Over 765 people have been killed on SA roads so far this month, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) said on Saturday. “The preliminary festive season statistics as reported by the SAPS from 1 December 2012 to 21 December 2012 is 765 fatalities from 638 fatal crashes,” said RTMC spokesman Ashref Ismail.
In 2011, 1771 people died as a result of 1316 road accidents that took place between 1 December to 10 January 2012. The RTMC had hoped to reduce the number of road casualties this year by 25 percent.
However, Ismail said given the preliminary figures, “All indications are that this target will not be met”.
Nevertheless, the RTMC hoped to come as close to the target as possible. - Sapa