Pretoria - Traffic volumes increased on Thursday afternoon as people began to make their way to their holiday destinations for the festive season.
Limpopo is one of the provinces that sees in influx of cars during the festive season.
Department of Transport and Community Safety spokesperson, Tidimalo Chuene said they had officers deployed on roads 24/7 until the end of festive period.
The department has also heightened visibility through road blocks and speed operations in all five districts and local municipal roads in the province.
“Since the operation started on 1 December, 145 737 vehicles were stopped and searched, 6 645 drivers tested for alcohol, 1 612 drivers were charged for speeding, 781 were ,charged for overloading, 841 charged for vehicles with defects and 61 vehicles were impounded.”
On Thursday, from 10am until 1pm traffic from Kranskop to Polokwane increased rapidly.
“There’s a traffic flow starting from Beitbridge border post, Musina town up to Baobab Tollgate along the N1 road. There is a slight increase in terms of traffic volume but everything is under control. Traffic officers are deployed according to the different critical points to ensure that there is free flow of traffic,” Chuene said.
Meanwhile, the N3 highway between Johannesburg and Durban has started to experience high traffic volumes.
The N3 Toll Concession had predicted an increase in traffic volumes from Thursday afternoon. It predicted that high volumes, congestion and delays would be possible between 12pm and 6pm.
“The traffic volumes are expected to increase on the N3 over the next few days as many people continue to head to their holiday destinations.”
IOL