Johannesburg, Apr 15 (IANS): South African Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga has said that 225 lives were lost on the country's roads during this year's Easter weekend due to various traffic offences, an increase in comparison to 161 fatalities recorded during the same period last year.

"The total number of fatal crashes this year is 185, resulting in 225 fatalities. The high number of road users who perished on our roads are pedestrians, who accounted for 44.4 per cent of all fatalities, followed by passengers at 27.7 per cent," Chikunga said on Friday while briefing the media about the Easter weekend road safety statistics recorded between April 6-10.

Drivers accounted for 25.6 per cent of the deaths, cyclists accounted for 1.3 per cent while the road user status of the remaining one per cent could not be determined, she added.

The top five traffic offences identified were speeding, driving unlicensed vehicles, driving without fastening seat belts, driving without licences, and driving vehicles with worn-out tyres, the Minister said, adding there was a decrease in female fatalities while male fatalities increased, Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 30,934 traffic fines were issued, while 1,716 drivers were detained for speeding, drunken driving, reckless and negligent driving, and operating public transport without permits, according to Chikunga.