With the festive season barely started, the number of fatal and near-fatal accidents on our region’s roads is already painting a bleak picture of what is to come, should local and provincial traffic law enforcers not step up their efforts in cracking down on law breakers.

This is the general feeling of residents and law-abiding road users, especially in Louis Trichardt and surrounding areas, who are of the opinion that local and provincial traffic law enforcers are not doing enough to safeguard law-abiding motorists from the onslaught of drunk drivers, drivers of unroadworthy vehicles and those drivers who blatantly and arrogantly continue to ignore traffic signs and speed limits.

The situation speaks for itself. Motorists are often seen driving around town while openly drinking alcohol, without any apparent fear of being caught. Over weekends, driving at night has become a nightmare as the town’s CBD turns into raceways. Stop signs have become yield signs and traffic lights, with regard to pedestrians, have become obsolete as the little green and red man indicating when and when not to cross the road is blatantly ignored.

Since the beginning of December, accidents on the region’s roads have claimed the lives of several people, while numerous others have been injured.

Monday evening, December 1, a young resident from Louis Trichardt was seriously injured when he drove into a broken down truck on the Thohoyandou/Louis Trichardt Road. The truck was abandoned by the driver in the middle of the road without any warning signs and lights. Yet, family members of the injured man claim traffic officials allowed the truck to continue, after the driver returned and got it started again (Read full report elsewhere).

The following day, traffic flow on the N1 between Louis Trichardt and Polokwane came almost to a standstill after a head-on collision between two vehicles on the railway bridge just past Bandelierkop. Four people died in the crash while a further five were seriously injured. The accident occurred when a driver overtook another on the bridge, where overtaking is not allowed.

Friday, December 5, saw yet another horrific crash along the Louis Trichardt/Elim Road, following a head-on collision between a sedan and a minibus taxi. The driver of the sedan died instantly, while several passengers, including the driver, of the taxi were seriously injured. Although still unconfirmed, it is said that one of the injured passengers died in hospital over the weekend.

A stray animal was once again the reason for an accident just outside of Louis Trichardt on the Vivo Road, next to Tshikota. Over the past months, stray animals on the Vivo Road have claimed many victims and inflicted serious injury on people and damage to their vehicles. On Sunday night, a local doctor and his wife collided with a stray cow along this stretch of road. They were lucky to escape injury, although their almost brand new luxury vehicle was severely damaged. Once again questions were asked on the scene as to how the traffic department could allow the situation to continue as this was not an isolated incident of stray animals on this stretch of road.

On Wednesday morning when a truck collided with a bakkie near the Ingwe Hotel on the N1 north. The truck overturned, completely blocking the road and traffic had to be diverted along the Witvlag Road. Later the same day, there was yet another accident involving two trucks. The two trucks collided near the Mountain Inn Hotel and traffic on the N1 again game to an almost complete halt.

Local DA councillor Brian du Plooy also reacted to the present state of lawlessness on the region’s roads.

“Every year, it is said that the traffic department will have zero tolerance towards people breaking the law. It is, however, sad to say that still we are seeing accidents on our roads where officials assist unroadworthy vehicles to stay on the road and innocent persons are killed daily because of this,” Du Plooy said, referring to the allegations made by the family of the man involved in the accident along the Thohoyandou Road on December 1.

“Traffic officials are on different point duties, which looks wonderful, but it is sad to say that no law can be enforced if a person is seated in a vehicle while perpetrators are breaking the law in front of their eyes. Is the law only enforced upon certain individuals?” Du Plooy asked. He said traffic officials are not visible enough this time of the year and that the Democratic Alliance in Louis Trichardt foresees numerous problems if officials do not change their attitude towards zero tolerance.

“If this will not be enforced, the results will be tragic,” Du Plooy said. He said that zero tolerance should also be applied to officials taking bribes instead of enforcing the law.

“This is criminal and we hope that nobody is involved in this. The Democratic Alliance would urge the public and road users to report such incidents,” Du Plooy said.

So, can residents expect an improvement with regard to local traffic law enforcement?

According to municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi, this situation is bound to change. On Wednesday he said that the municipality was aware of the situation and appreciated the community’s input in this regard. Bobodi said that they had already had a meeting with the relevant departments in this regard to address the situation. Bobodi also announced that the municipality will be launching their annual Alive Arrive campaign on Friday (12^th). The campaign will run unto mid-January. Bobodi said that, in view of the current situation on the region’s roads, motorists can definitely expect zero tolerance from traffic law enforcers this year.