Thirty-five people have been killed on the Western Cape roads this past Easter weekend. The latest incident involved a head-on collision between a truck and a car on the N2 at the Gouritz River Bridge near Gouritz in the Southern Cape. The driver of the car was burnt beyond recognition.

Western Cape Traffic Chief Kenny Africa says most incidents occurred late at night or in the early hours of the morning.

“Most of them were killed late at night and the early hours of the morning, and the bulk in the Metro and municipal areas. It was very difficult for us to monitor the roads at this time because we were unsure of when exactly people would be on the roads,” he said.

Africa said the common cause of most accidents were due to negligent driving.

“The major contributing factors to these fatalities were due to reckless driving, over taking when it was not safe to do so and not adhering to the rules of the roads,” he added.

Africa said an intensive road safety enforcement plan wasn’t enough to prevent road fatalities.

“We did everything in our power. We had roadblocks throughout the Western Cape province, concentrating on drunk drivers, however this year drunk driving was not the cause of these accidents,” he stressed.

Last year twenty-seven people were killed on Western Cape roads.