Elisha Molefe

Eleven people were killed in two separate car accidents last week in North West.

The latest accident brings the number of road deaths in the province to 35 since the beginning of the year.

In one accident seven people were killed on the N14 and N12 near Klerkskraal after the taxi they were travelling in was involved in a head-on collision with a Toyota Avante.

It is alleged the accident happened because one of the cars drove in the wrong lane.

In another accident four people were killed in a head-on collision on the N12 highway on Friday.

The accident is said to have been caused because a vehicle made a U-turn on the freeway. Police have opened a case of drunken driving and culpable homicide.

In the first accident, three members of the Tshetlhane family and a relative were killed. A fifth occupant in the Tshetlhane's car was admitted to Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp in a critical condition.

The other three who died were passengers in a taxi that was travelling from Mafikeng. The driver and four passengers who survived the accident were admitted to three different hospitals. Emergency services used the jaws-of-life to free the bodies trapped in the wreckage of the two vehicles.

Jerry Thibedi, North West transport MEC, has called on motorists to be especially careful to avoid unnecessary fatalities.

"Without pre-empting the findings of police investigations into the two accidents, preliminary investigations already suggest that a human factor could have been the cause of the two fatal crashes," said Thibedi.