Keep off the road: Sanral names days when traffic is expected to peak

Roads agency Sanral is expecting festive season traffic to peak  earlier than usual this year.

"Traffic will begin to pick up in the week of school closures and traffic volumes will become really heavy from that Friday, December 14 — the beginning of a long weekend as Monday is a public holiday (because December 16 falls on a Sunday) and when the building industry closes down,” Sanral said.

“In addition, all public schools close on December 12, a Wednesday, and open on a Tuesday, a week after January 1.

"As Christmas falls on a Tuesday, traffic should start peaking on the previous Friday, December 21."

Sanral said the end of the festive period was expected to be different.

"New Year’s Day is on a Tuesday and so is the day public schools reopen on January 8. This may mean peak traffic on the Mondays before."

Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona encouraged motorists to download the Sanral app to top up their e-tag accounts and get information about road conditions, traffic congestion and accidents.

Sanral manages 22,214km of SA’s roads.