Traffic authorities from all nine provinces and the metros have decided to sustain high impact road operations for the coming three months to reduce deaths on South African roads.

Encouraged by the 46 per cent decline in fatalities over the Easter period this year, the chiefs decided that road safety operations implemented over the Easter period should be continued throughout the country with special focus on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Pay-day weekends and long weekends will experience stringent law enforcement operations and roadblocks to address drunken driving, speeding as well as reckless and negligent driving.

At the most recent meeting of the National Road Safety Steering Committee, road safety trends from the last five years were reviewed.

Trends indicated that the month of May has a high number of fatal crashes compared to April and June. This is because of the onset of winter which is associated with veld fires that affect visibility on the roads.

Law enforcement in this period will focus on reducing pedestrian fatalities. Trends show that the highest number of road users who die on the roads in this period are pedestrians (38.3 per cent), followed by passengers (32 per cent) and drivers (27.8 per cent).

KwaZulu Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape will see intensified law enforcement over the three month period. These five provinces contribute 63 per cent of all road fatalities in the country.

Attention will be given to hazardous locations in the inner cities, towns, villages and townships.

Road users are warned to expect a high number of arrests and the impounding of vehicles as traffic authorities try to deal with all factors that contribute to fatalities on the roads.

Un-roadworthy and un-licenced vehicles will be impounded and pedestrians will receive heavy penalties for crossing the roads at dangerous points.