Free State Premier, Ace Magashule, urges people from across the province who will be embarking on long journeys to various destinations to be safe on the roads. He says importantly citizens should not drink and drive and the safety of all people in South Africa remains paramount to the Free State Provincial Government.

Meanwhile Free State Roads and Transport MEC, Butana Khompela, says errant drivers using the province’s roads this Easter, are in for a big surprise. The MEC sounded the warning yesterday afternoon ahead of the Easter Weekend, that will see traffic volumes increase from today.

Khompela says an increased number of traffic officers will be deployed on the province’s major routes, including those linking the Free State with other provinces. According to him barrier line overtaking, public transport vehicle roadworthiness and speed monitoring are some of the concerns officers will be on the lookout for.

In view of that Transport Minister, Dipuo Peters, continues the Easter Road Safety Campaign today in Ficksburg on the border of Lesotho. Peter officially launched the campaign last week.

With the expected increase in traffic volumes during the Easter period, Peters will conduct a Cross-Alive Road Safety Campaign with the Cross Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA), an entity of the Department of Transport responsible for cross-border road activities.

The campaign will be a multi stakeholder road safety activation with the aim of conducting inspections on vehicles that will be traveling along the Free State border routes which include Ficksburg, Maseru, Fouriesburg and  the Wepener border posts. He will also address the community of Meqheleng about the importance of road safety at the Ficksburg Royal Show grounds where he will  emphasize the importance of traveling in roadworthy vehicles, the importance of wearing seatbelts at all the times and adhering to all traffic rules.