Holiday death toll rises to 28

Herald Reporter—

Seven more people died in separate road traffic accidents on Monday and Tuesday, raising the festive season death toll to 28, police confirmed yesterday.The seven deaths were recorded after six accidents on Monday and Tuesday. In a statement yesterday, police acting national spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi said most of the accidents were caused by speeding.

“Seven people have died in six road accidents that were recorded on Tuesday as compared to three people that died in 2015. Speeding remains the main cause of accidents that were recorded.”

“The road accidents claimed the lives of three drivers and four passengers. Four of the accidents occurred at night between 1800-0600 hours while the other two occurred during day time, between 0601-1800 hours,” he said.

Chief Sup Nyati said statistics showed that there were 11 more accidents that occurred this year as compared to the same period last year.

Last year, 48 accidents occurred on December 27, while this year 59 were recorded the same day.

Defective or unroadworthy vehicles increased from 69 to 103.