It is extremely dangerous to be a truck driver on the 415km N3 toll route between Johannesburg and Durban.An average of 7 000 trucks travel the route daily, with consistently high volumes on weekends and holidays.There has been an 8-10% year-on-year growth for more than a decade, mainly due to the transfer of freight, especially bulk products, from rail to road, according to the N3 toll road operator N3TC.It recorded 1 045 crashes on the N3 Toll Route between January and November 2024, with 551 truck incidents representing more than half of the crashes.This is three truck accidents every two days on average. A 2023 study by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) found there were 2 237 fatal crashes involving 3 546 trucks over a five-year period. This is an average of at least one per day for five years.KZN accounted for 22.4% of the national average.The report found that an accident was more likely to have fatalities if a truck was involved.During the December 2023–January 2024 holiday season, human error resulted in 84% of light motor vehicle crashes and 93% of truck crashes, according to Thania Dogra, chief operating officer of N3TC. “Disappointingly, this indicates a total disregard for traffic laws and fellow road users. Lawlessness appears to be the order of the day,” she said.This pattern continued in 2024, when there were 1 194 crashes on the N3 Toll Route. Human factors (errors) were determined to be the probable cause of 75% of light motor vehicle crashes and 82% of heavy motor vehicle accidents.ER
