TIME TO REDUCE ROAD DEATHS

I TOOK a call from Cape Argus reader Richard Benson yesterday at more or less the same time two Cape Town families were burying loved ones killed in Sunday morning’s horrific accident on Helen Suzman Boulevard in Green Point.

A motorbike had slammed into their car. So severe was the impact, the car rolled and landed on its roof.

Zubair Esau, 18, Ebrahim Patel, 3, as well as the motorcyclist died. Other passengers in the car were injured. During our conversation, Benson, an activist who founded the Road Safety Action Campaign, alluded to another news story of an accident in which four people were killed and two others injured.

It was a collision between a car and a truck on the N1 outside Bloemfontein. The causes of the accidents are still being probed, but it seemed speed was involved. If not, then yesterday’s funerals may not have been necessary. South Africa has among the worst road deaths statistics in the world. It is a challenge transport authorities are miserably failing to overcome.

They detail the festive season carnage every year, but nothing will change until such time they revisit the laws to include a reduction of speed limits, among other factors.

South Africa should consider following the example of countries that have implemented Vision Zero. It is a strategy to change driver behaviour – a serious matter here at home – to increase road safety and cut down fatalities. We hope Transport Minister Blade Nzimande instructs his officials to get to work on Vision Zero immediately. That’s if he is truly determined to help save lives. Peace.