Visible policing on the roads will help reduce the high number of road accident fatalities, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday.

"A 7.4 percent increase in the number of road accidents during this year's Easter Weekend compared to a similar period in 2006 indicates the inability of law enforcement agencies to ensure compliance with traffic rules," DA spokesperson Stuart Farrow said in a statement.

The best way to significantly reduce the death toll was through greater visible policing and zero-tolerance for all offences. The transport department needed to increase the number of traffic officers on the roads to ensure that road users complied with the law, he said.

The fact that more than 13 000 people died on the roads every year at a cost of more than R43-billion to the economy, not to mention the human cost, was a great cause for concern, said Farrow.

The department should not, as it seemed, only pay attention to road safety during the Easter weekend and festive season, and rigorous and continuous enforcement of traffic rules was a must.

No safety initiative, no matter how laudable, would curb road deaths, unless there was the political will and capacity to enforce it, Farrow said. - Sapa