Road death toll reaches 1 300

The festive season death toll on the nation's roads has risen to 1 300, the Road Traffic Management Corporation said on Saturday.

"Although these are not the official figures I can confirm that we have lost 1 300 people since the beginning of the festive season.

"At the moment 40 people die on our roads per day," said RTMC spokesman Ashref Ismail.

He said the main causes for the road fatalities were excessive speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol and walking while drunk.

"We need to change our mindset, we can't continue like this. We can't keep on loosing 40 people per day. It cost the economy more than R300 billion a year," said Ismail.

He urged road users to be patient and exercise caution.