One in three are fraudulent

One out of every three drivers on South African roads may have obtained their drivers’ licences fraudulently – and this could be one of the major contributors to the country’s road death toll.

According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s (RTMC) road fatality statistics, 14 050 people lost their lives on South Africa’s roads last year.

The RTMC’s Simon Zwane says they based their estimation of illegally obtained licences on information obtained during ongoing investigations by themselves, as well as the police’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU).

Zwane believes the staggering road death figures could be attributed to the high number of poorly, or untrained, drivers on the road. “It definitely contributes,” he told The Citizen yesterday. “It can’t be denied and we can see that in the figures, which show that almost 90% of traffic accidents are the result of human error.”

Zwane believes that eliminating the ease with which licences can be fraudulently obtained will help reduce road deaths. However, the RTMC has to wait for the SIU’s ongoing investigation into fraudulent licences to be completed before they can proceed.

The SIU investigation’s findings will guide government on how to eliminate the problem, as well as how to remove the offending drivers from South African roads.

So far, there has not been a date set for the completion of this investigation.