CAPE TOWN - Despite an increase in patrols by law enforcement agencies across the country, 14 people have died and many have been left critically injured in horror crashes between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.
On Christmas Day, a man in his forties was critically injured when he lost control of his vehicle causing it to crash into a tree on the Two-Shaft Road in Orkney.
Paramedics had to provide the man with several advanced life support interventions before taking him to a private hospital for urgent care.
On Wednesday, a 89-year-old woman travelling in a light motor vehicle collided with a truck on Du Plooy Street in Potchefstroom.
The local fire department had to use the Jaws of Life to extricate her from her vehicle.
Paramedics took the woman to hospital under advanced life support interventions, but shortly after arriving at the hospital the woman died of her injuries.
On the same day, a single-bakkie rolled on General Hertzog Road in Peacehaven, Vereeniging, leaving one person dead, another in critical condition and the vehicle’s driver with minor injuries.
On Thursday, two bikers lost their lives after losing control of the motorbike and rolling into a field off Minnaar Street in Sasolburg.
The victims, a 26-year-old woman and a 36-year-old man, were found lying by a fence beside the road. Their motorbike was 100 meters further away in the field.
The couple was declared dead on the scene.
On New Year's Eve, four people were killed and critically injured when their vehicle rolled on the N3 in Heidelburg. Medics assessed the patients and found that two women and two men had already succumbed to their numerous injuries. Another man and woman were found with several injuries and were in critical condition.
Later on the same day, a bakkie was found in one lane while a truck-and-trailer was found on its roof on the side of the road. Both vehicles had sustained significant damage in the collision,” he said.
On closer inspection of the wreckage, paramedics found that two adults and four children in the bakkie had already died of their numerous injuries.
Two other men, believed to be in their fifties, were lying trapped inside the truck in critical condition.