SA unlikely to cut road death toll

While the 2019 road accident statistics reveal a slight decline compared to the previous year, South Africa is in no position to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) of halving road deaths and injuries by 2030.

Commenting on road fatality figures, the Automobile Association (AA) went as far as to say that South Africa had reached a point where “we can no longer plan for safer roads; action is needed and is needed urgently”.

Official figures show that in 2019, 12 503 people died on the country’s roads.

This is only slightly less than in 2018, when 12 921 people die as a result of road traffic accidents.

“Of particular concern is the fact that 40% of all fatalities are pedestrians,” said the AA. “This indicates that not enough is being done to provide adequate resources to those walking on roads. And that not enough is being done in terms of road safety education of both drivers and pedestrians.

“We would like to see pedestrian safety education embraced with as much vigour as Covid-19 education.”

The AA said there were numerous interventions government could implement.

These include: instituting mandatory safety ratings on all new vehicle sales in the country; urgently reviewing and revising safety regulations for new vehicles in South Africa; festive season policing year-round; weekend drink-driving blitzes; and reintroducing road safety education and driver training in schools.

While the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) puts the total cost of road traffic accidents at R165 billion annually, the AA suspects it might be higher.

Should South Africa continue on its 3% annual decrease in road traffic fatalities for the next 10 years, it would have achieved a 28% decline and not the 50% required by the UNSDG in 2030.

The AA also said that while the country’s road accidents for 2020 were likely to be considerably lower than last year, this would not reflect the true picture, owing to the dramatically decreased volumes of traffic during the national lockdown.

– Caxton News Service