Fewer road crash deaths

AA hails fall in numbers but still calls the carnage a ‘catastrophe of untold magnitude’

KWAZULU-NATAL and the rest of the country recorded fewer fatal road crashes and fatalities last year from 2018. This was the finding in a report issued by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).

KZN had 2 331 deaths last year compared with 2 473 fatalities in 2018. The province was also one of five that recorded decreases in fatal crashes – 2 012 last year compared with 2 097 in 2018.

The country recorded 12 503 fatalities last year, a 3% fall from 12 921 in 2018.

Human factors (86%) were the highest contributing factor to fatal crashes, followed by roads and environmental factors (9%) and vehicle factors (5%).

The Automobile Association (AA) felt that the total number of deaths on the roads was still too high and would remain a problem until government intervened.

“An improvement, to be sure, but still way too high, particularly given that vehicle safety technology and other mitigating instruments are available which can reduce this figure dramatically,” the AA said.

Based on current fatality figures, 132 485 people have died on South

African roads since 2010.

“This is a national tragedy, a catastrophe of untold magnitude. Importantly, one must not only look at these numbers for the full story. They do not tell you of the countless families which have been destroyed and the financial devastation these deaths have caused.

“The RTMC puts the cost of crashes at around R165 billion annually; we would venture that this figure is way higher,” the AA said.

The AA added that fatality figures for this year would be significantly lower because of decreased traffic volumes due to the national lockdown.

Also reacting to the report, Justice

Project SA chief executive Howard Dembovsky did not regard a decline of 85 fatal crashes in a year for KZN as “very interesting”.

“Since KZN is a holiday destination and the fuel price rocketed in 2019, this decline could easily be attributed to a lower number of visitors to the province during holiday periods. I certainly don’t think it occurred as a result of planned interventions,” said Dembovsky.

South Africans Against Drunk Driving director Caro Smit said they did not think a 3% fall in fatalities was acceptable. She questioned why 12 503 people were allowed to die on South African roads annually.