'We can't have our roads becoming places of death' — Road Freight Association on N3 horror crash

The Road Freight Association (RFA) wants answers about why killer accidents are happening so frequently on South African roads.

This comes in the wake of the horrific multi-vehicle crash on the N3 between Hilton and Cedara on Monday, when thousands of holidaymakers were returning home from KwaZulu-Natal after the Easter long weekend.

The accident claimed the lives of at least five people, left nearly 80 injured and involved more than 40 vehicles including trucks, cars and mini bus taxis.

Gavin Kelly, head of the RFA, said on Tuesday: “The scenes on the N3 yesterday are not what we want to see on the roads of South Africa.

“No matter where these happened or how they happened, we need to find out why they are happening and why are they becoming so frequent.”

Kelly urged investigators to establish the root causes of the accident “so that we can address them and prevent these sorts of horrendous crashes from happening.

“We cannot lose any more South Africans. We cannot have our roads becoming places of death.

“All South Africans need to use the roads carefully and responsibly especially when there are misty conditions and when traffic volumes are high.

“We need to think how we are going to use the roads each time we get into our vehicles, whether it's a truck or a light motor vehicle.”

Last week, ahead of the start of the Easter weekend, the N3 Toll Concession, which manages more than 400km of the route between KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, put into place stringent safety measures, including satellite stations, along the way.

Operations manager Tania Dhoogra warned motorists to drive with caution because of traffic volumes including trucks, cars and public transport.

In 2022, 77% of all light motor vehicle crashes on the N3 were caused by human error, compared with 73% in 2021.

Dhoogra said the human factor played an even bigger role in heavy motor vehicle crashes, with 85% of all truck crashes in 2022 attributed to this, and 80% in 2021.

In 2022, 17.5% of all crashes occurred during poor weather conditions compared with 22.2% in 2021.

Last year trucks were involved in 57.3% of all crashes on the N3 toll route, whereas 53.1% of crashes in 2021 involved heavy motor vehicles.

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