Cape road fatalities up, mainly pedestrians
THE WESTERN Cape, recorded a 7% increase in road deaths, according to the preliminary 2017/18 festive season road safety report.
Countrywide there was an 11% decrease in the death toll on the country’s roads over the festive season.
Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi released the national traffic statistics in Tshwane yesterday.
“The department has recorded a noticeable decline in the number of fatalities in seven provinces with the exception of the Western Cape and the North West provinces which recorded 7% and 11% increases, respectively,” Maswanganyi said.
Provincial MEC of Transport and Public Works, Donald Grant, attributed the increase in fatalities in the province to the increase in the number of pedestrians.
“I have asked for a geographic information system (GIS) mapping so that we can find the exact locations of where the pedestrians are being knocked down… 61% of the pedestrians who are killed and found in the morgues have ethanol in their blood. In other words they have been drinking,” Grant said
Provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa said the road carnage indicated that more still needed to be done to promote road safety and to get people to respect the rules of the road.
“I believe we have saved a lot lives by launching drive-safely campaigns before and during the holidays in the hope of bringing down the high number of road fatalities. Unfortunately we have seen more fatalities in 2017 than that of 2016 regardless of efforts made,” Africa said.
He described their last month as “very problematic” in terms of road deaths in the province. “A major contributor was human behaviour and people taking chances such as overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic and pedestrians crossing where they shouldn’t. As a result many accidents were head-on-collisions and pedestrian deaths, which could have been prevented,” Africa said.
Maswanganyi said nationally from December 1 to January 9, 1 527 fatalities were recorded compared to 1 714 fatalities in the same period the previous year.
“The highest number of fatalities was among pedestrians which increased from 34% to 37% and fatalities among drivers also increased from 23% to 27%. However, there was a decline in passenger fatalities from 41% to 35% which indicates that it is possible to save more lives if more people use safety belts,” he said.
An increase in fatalities was also saw among youthful drivers between the ages of 25 and 34.
“While drunken driving was a major focus area during the period under review, there was a decline in the number of motorists arrested for drunken driving from 5 943 in the 2016/17 period to 3 301 in the 2017/18 period. Speed continued to be a major headache with 922 drivers arrested compared to 785 in the 2016/17 period.”
Automobile Association (AA) spokesperson Layton Beard said the increase is cause “for great concern”.
“The decrease nationally is encouraging and show their plans and strategies in most provinces were successful. This also proves drivers attitudes are improving. We still need to educate people not to cross in roads like the N2.”