Pretoria - Carnage on Limpopo roads has seen 46 people dead, all in less than three weeks.
On Friday morning 16 people were killed in an accident on the R579 in Motetema, near Groblersdal. The accident involved several learners.
Community Safety and Transport spokesperson Tidimalo Chuene said a minibus taxi collided head-on with a truck and another minibus taxi after allegedly overtaking unsafely.
“One of the minibus taxis involved was transporting learners to school. Drivers of the two taxis and six learners are among the 16 who have died.
“Four passengers with serious injuries were transported to a nearby health facility for medical attention.”
She added that law-enforcement officers at the scene cited reckless driving as a possible cause of the crash.
Also on Friday, in a separate accident, the lives of three people on the R71 at Mangkweng, outside Polokwane, were lost.
According to Chuene, this was after a truck ignored a stop sign and side-swiped another motor vehicle, killing all three occupants of the car.
Details of another accident that claimed five lives on the N1 south of Polokwane were still sketchy.
Last month, the Pretoria News reported that 22 people lost their lives after a bus collided head-on with a cash-in-transit van that was allegedly trying to overtake another vehicle on the N1 outside Louis Trichardt.
The bus rolled off a bridge and into a river during the collision, which took place outside the Hendrik Verwoerd Tunnel heading towards Musina on Monday evening.
This brings to 46 the total number of people who perished on Limpopo roads in less than three weeks.
Pretoria News