The Mpumalanga provincial government has launched its road safety campaign in Middleburg.

The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) also launched the Hlokomela Campaign – a road safety program aimed at reducing taxi-related accidents.

The campaign also entails improving customer care and promoting responsible driving, among others.

Law enforcement officers will be deployed on the province’s road network 24 hours a day.

Excessive speeding, reckless driving, bad road condition and fatigue are among the causes of road fatalities.

Wet weather is also blamed for some road crashes in the country.

As the festive season is gradually gaining momentum — traffic authorities are launching road safety campaigns in preparation of the anticipated high traffic volumes.

Mpumalanga Road and Transport MEC Thulasizwe Thomo and Community Safety and Security MEC Jacky Macie launched the provincial safety campaign.

MEC Thomo has called on motorists to exercise caution, when driving on the province’s roads.

“But what we are doing now is to intensify the festive awareness campaign on safety and to ensure that everyone comply especially all road users must ensure that they comply. Our plan is to ensure that we enforce the law and ensure that we don’t compromise on transgression that have been made,” says Thomo.

“So, we have been giving orders to the law enforcers [and] to ensure that safety is complied with by road users that are using our roads here in Mpumalanga,”h adds.

MEC Macie says the safety of all and sundry is of paramount importance.

“We are going to make sure that our law enforcement are looking at that situation, so that we must able to examine and check our drivers’ fitness in terms of mentality. Because once you get tired you lose your concentration along the road,: says Maccie.

“Human nature when you get tired, is given that you [are] bound to make mistakes. [It] is a matter that we would attend to … also the issue of drunk and driving and our liquor outlets particular the taverns that are operating 24 hours outside their licence,” he adds.

Santaco has also launched the Hlokomela Campaign. The taxi council has launched a taxi industry training academy as part of its strategy.

The taxi council provincial secretary, Simphiwe Sibanyoni says they too yearn for an incident free festive season.

“To wish our passengers that we transport on a daily basis to trust our minibuses and travel safe to whatever destination in and out of the province,” adds Sibanyoni.

The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) is expecting high volumes of traffic on the roads.

Sanral’s Melbar Gexa has urged motorist to plan their trips accordingly and rest after every two hours of driving.

“[We urge] all the road users to be vigilant, to drive safe [and] to take necessary rest. We have built this infrastructure for South Africans and for tourists to enjoy. So we are urging people to really drive safe,” adds Gexa.

Motorists, especially those that will be driving on the N4-toll road, are advised to make use of TRAC N4 toll-free number for any assistance.