Road deaths continue to rise

South Africa’s 2018/19 festive season road-death statistics are out and, once again, were disappointing. The official number of road deaths between December 1, 2018, and January 8, was 1 612. This is five-percent more than the 1 527 deaths recorded over the same period last year.

The Automobile Association (AA) of South Africa says that while this is a marginal increase, it is an increase nonetheless. “The current trend of recording 1 500 to 1 600 deaths over such a short period should be a clarion call for urgent, meaningful and impactful change,” the organisation says.

However, this may be easier said than done, given the scale of the problem in the country.

“In South Africa we accept these figures as routine. However, in 95 out of 175 other countries in the world, these numbers are higher than their annual death toll. In fact, in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018, South Africa ranks a lowly 159 out of 175 countries in terms of total road deaths. This is cause for major concern and certainly, in our view, is a national catastrophe,” notes the AA.

It was highlighted by Transport Minister Blade Nzimande that almost 90 percent of all fatalities are caused by human error.

The AA says: “We cannot allow a small minority of drivers who do not obey the rules of the road, or who believe these rules don’t apply to them, to ride roughshod over everyone else’s right to safe travel.

“Proper and effective policing, supported by strong judicial intervention, will send a clear message to other reckless and selfish drivers thinking of committing the same contraventions,” the organisation concludes.