The essential thing to take with you on your travels over the holiday period is patience. As the roads get busier and people look forward to arriving at their destinations, frustration tends to boil over, resulting in accidents.

Road Traffic Management Corporation spokesperson Simon Zwane said traffic volumes increased significantly yesterday, with 2 000 vehicles leaving Gauteng every hour via the N3 De Hoek toll plaza.

Johannesburg Metro Police Department spokesperson Wayne Minnaar added that the N1 towards Limpopo, as well as the N4 towards Mpumalanga and the N12 heading to North West, also saw a spike in road users as between 1 500 and 2 000 vehicles per hour passed through between 17:00 and 20:00 on Friday night.

Zwane urged motorists to avoid travelling at night or in rainy weather. He said drivers should not speed and should keep their lights on for visibility.

“Accidents peak between 9pm and midnight when visibility is poor,” he said.

This week, a major accident on Germiston’s Geldenhuys interchange resulted in the deaths of six people, including two children, when the minibus taxi crashed into a metal barrier. In a separate incident, a minibus overturned between Melmoth and Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal, leaving five people dead. Another horrific crash on Monday left three people dead after a truck carrying pig carcasses crashed into a taxi near Ndundulu.

“At last count, we arrested 3 700 people for various offences, including drunk driving. We are also concerned about the number of pedestrians killed on the roads, mostly in residential areas. Police will arrest those walking while drunk on the roads because they are also a threat to road safety,” Zwane warned.