SA fails driving test

A STUDY by an international company claims that South Africa is the most dangerous country to drive in due to the high number of road fatalities caused by drunk driving.

According to the research data published by Zutobi, an international driver’s education company, on its website recently, South Africa had the lowest safety driving score in the world. South Africa scored 3.41 out of 10.

Countries were analysed on factors that included estimated road traffic death rates, motorway speed limits, blood alcohol concentration limits for drivers, and deaths attributed to alcohol. This information was used to determine the world’s safest and most dangerous countries to drive in.

According to the data, South Africa had the highest alcohol-related road traffic deaths at 57.5%.

In addition, there are an estimated 22.2 road traffic deaths per 100000 of the population; and only 31% of frontseat passengers were estimated to wear seat belts.

Thailand was ranked the second most dangerous country to drive. It scored 4.35 out of 10 due to having one of the lowest seat belt-wearing rates (40%).

The US was ranked third. Its driving safety score was 5.03 out of 10. Twenty-nine percent of road traffic deaths were attributed to alcohol.

The data also showed the road traffic death rate increased by more than 50% from last year – from 15.6 to 22.6 per 100 000 people in India.

However, Norway ranked as the safest country to drive in, with a score of 8.20 out of 10. This was attributed to low road traffic death rates and high seat belt use. The second and third safest countries were Iceland and Estonia.

Leila Jones, the senior digital public relations strategist at Digitaloft, said each country was analysed based on a score out of 10 for each factor, and an average score was calculated.

Digitaloft is an internet marketing service company based in the UK, which had compiled the data for the company.

Jones said the data was sourced from the World Health Organization’s Global Health Observatory data and Wikipedia between 2017 and 2022.

Eugene Herbert, the chief executive of MasterDrive, said: “The challenge with many studies that are undertaken and published have little reference with regard to why the study was done and who commissioned it.”

MasterDrive is a driver training organisation that engages with and assists companies in managing driver risk interventions.

“If that is known, one can offer objective input. A case in point was when the Road Traffic Management Corporation reported that Polo drivers were involved in more accidents without lending context,” Herbert said.

He said drunk driving was and would continue to be a problem in South Africa.

“There is little accurate accident data that would enable us to make an informed comment. That said, all anecdotal information would indicate that drunk driving is a problem. Any reference previously made with regard to seat belt wearing would also appear to be less than that which we have used for reporting.”

Herbert said such data could have an adverse impact, such as discouraging visitors and business investment.

“If companies are placing staff in South Africa or recruiting for the country, there is a perception that there is heightened risk, something they may not like. However, any person who is nervous about coming to the country and is concerned that he/she will not be able to cope with the challenges of driving in South Africa should have some orientation training for themselves and their families.

“That will make a person comfortable and competent in coping with the aforementioned challenges while learning some defensive driving skills.”

Johan Jonck, advocate and founder of the Arrive Alive campaign, said: “We are one of the more dangerous countries for road safety even though there is some debate about where we are ranked. We are also one of the leading countries in alcohol consumption, and intoxication is often to be found not only among drivers but also pedestrians.”

Jonck said such data could have a positive impact by raising awareness.

“This could put more emphasis on combating drunk driving and ensuring seat belt compliance by the law enforcement agencies.”