Busy festive season for local emergency service

For many the 2019 festive season was a time of celebration with family and friends, but for some it was a time of great sadness with the loss of loved ones through vehicle accidents.

The Zoutpansberger spoke to the head of the Makhado Fire Brigade, Mr Jack Ramalatso, last week to find out how busy the emergency services had been over the festive season from 1 to 31 December.

Ramalatso said that they had attended a total of 24 motor vehicle accidents during the period. Of these, three P4s were recorded. This falls under priority 4 - “code blue” - meaning that victims were declared dead on arrival because of critical and fatal injuries.

In addition, the Makhado Fire Brigade attended to 64 P3s, which fall under “code green” for victims who experienced minor injuries or illness, as well as 21 P2s - “code yellow” - for victims with moderate to potentially serious injuries, such as fractures. Luckily, only one P1 - “code red” - was recorded for victims with life-threatening injuries or illness, such as internal injuries, heart attacks, head injuries, severe burns and bleeding and breathing difficulties.

Looking at these local statistic, one can clearly see that many people definitely did not enjoy their festive season. As for the main causes of these accidents, Ramalatso said the main reasons were speeding and dangerous overtaking. Most of these motor vehicle accidents also occurred on the busy N1 north and south. One fatality was recorded on the Madombidzha road.

News in brief - Date: 20 January 2020

Veruscka van der Linde

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