South Africa's national highways will see more bloodshed as fatal truck crashes are expected to soar this festive season.
The increase in truck traffic is concerning the tourism sector as exorbitant flight prices have left South Africans with no option but to take their chances on the road.
Between January and September 398 fatal truck accidents were recorded on the N1, N2 and N3.
According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), this number is expected to rise in the final three months of 2022, the busiest time of year for the freight industry.
Its warning comes after a crash on the N3 on November 1 in which a truck ploughed into 13 vehicles, killing the son and future daughter-in-law of Minority Front party leader Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi.
On Thursday eight people died in a collision between an Interstate bus and a Sedaka Logistics truck on the N8 near Botshabelo in the Free State.
In October more than 30 people died on the country’s roads due to truck accidents.
RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane said human error was the main contributing factor in such accidents.
"These can be attributable to fatigue and driver impatience on the roads. The majority of accidents occur late at night or in the early hours of the morning."
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) said many preliminary accident reports indicated brake failure and bad driver behaviour as the main contributing issues.
Sanral eastern region manager Dumisani Nkabinde said a sudden increase in truck traffic at night had resulted in an uptick in accidents.
"Sanral has increased roads signs on certain sections of national roads where more accidents have been recorded to improve road safety and awareness. We have also noted that some of the trucks do not adhere to road signs, for example, stopping at the compulsory stop (to engage into lower gear) which precedes steep downhills."
According to the N3 Toll Concession, which manages 415km of the transport corridor between Cedara in KwaZulu-Natal and Heidelberg in Gauteng, trucks constituted about 40% of vehicles on the toll route daily.
It's operations manager, Thania Dhoogra, said crash data from 2022 indicated 76% of light motor vehicle crashes and 85% of truck crashes were likely down to humans.
The failing infrastructure issue in SA is failing the tourism industry.
Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa East Coast chairperson Brett Tungay said due to failed rail infrastructure the tourism sector would suffer because of increased truck traffic.
“The failing infrastructure issue in SA is failing the tourism industry. We have issues with water supply, power supply, sanitation, our railway and roads. This all piles up and hurts the domestic tourism industry because [tourists] are the ones using road infrastructure to travel to their destinations.”
According to Unathi Henama, a tourism lecturer at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein, ongoing crashes caused people to think twice about visiting certain provinces, particularly KZN.
“Airline tickets are expensive as demand exceeds supply, which is due to the loss of capacity from failed airlines. Today it's getting cheaper to fly overseas than to fly within the country. Drive tourism is the biggest beneficiary as people use buses, taxis and private automobiles to travel."
However, delays in getting the country's rail infrastructure back on track meant SA's road carnage was likely to worsen.
Transport ministry spokesperson Lwazi Khoza said rail infrastructure and stations were vandalised during lockdown because there was no security and the majority of commuters were not using trains.
During transport month in October, the transport department announced the reopening of the central line in Cape Town. However, this too hit a snag.
"The reopening of Central Line will be done in phases. Phases 1A, 1B and 1C. Phase 1A (Cape Town to Langa) is running. But phase 1B (Langa to Belville) project was interrupted by threats and intimidation by unknown men. Work has been halted as a result of the extortionists."
Khoza said threats had seen Prasa implement an integrated security plan that incorporated technology.
"Prasa is walling some parts of the network to prevent theft and vandalism."
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