Reduction in road fatalities slight, latest figures show

ROAD fatalities across South Africa have remained stubbornly high this festive season, despite a major drive to improve motorist and pedestrian safety – with 1 368 people killed, only eight fewer than during the same period last year.

The statistics are for the period December 1, last year, to January 5.

“These senseless killings could have been avoided if we all behaved as responsible law-abiding citizens,” Transport Minister Dipuo Peters told journalists in Cape Town yesterday, where she released the figures

Speaking at the launch of the festive season road safety campaign in late November, Peters said she hoped that targeting drunk drivers, jay walkers and speeding motorists, along with making sure motorists wore seatbelts and vehicles were roadworthy, would would help decrease road deaths.

Yesterday, however, while acknowledging the long hours worked by traffic officers while many South Africans were on holiday, she acknowledged the drop in deaths was small, at less than 1 percent.

“We have no reason to celebrate as our people continue to be killed on our roads due to irresponsible and murderous acts of fellow road users,” Peters said.

Transport MEC Donald Grant said festive season fatalities in the province had decreased by roughly 6 percent compared to the same period last year.

In a presentation, Road Traffic Management Corporation ( RTMC) chief executive Makhosini Msibi reported that the Western Cape was ranked fifth out of nine provinces in terms of fatalities, with 95 crashes causing 108 fatalities.

Grant, however, gives a different number for the same period, as the RTMC and the provincial government collect statistics differently. According to Grant, between December 1 and January 5 there were 134 fatalities in the province, 39 more than the figure quoted by the RTMC.

Grant has for years said the province’s figures are more accurate, as they are sourced directly from mortuaries.

Those used by the RTMC come from incident reports compiled by police.

Yesterday, during her press briefing, Peters said KwaZulu- Natal was the most dangerous province for pedestrians and people travelling in cars, with 244 crashes leaving 282 people dead.

Speaking of when accidents occurred, Peters said a high proportion of deadly crashes took place between 8pm and 8am, with darkness, drunk driving and drunk pedestrians all contributing factors. The four hours between 8pm and midnight were the most dangerous, with one in four deaths occurring then.

The minister urged tavern, pub and shebeen owners to ensure patrons did not drive home after drinking at their establishments. Patrons, meanwhile, should use taxi services.

Her department would consider releasing statistics on traffic deaths more regularly, in an effort to stop the “scourge” of road deaths slipping from public debate, Peters added.

South African traffic officials this year plan to visit Sweden and Australia on fact- finding missions, to learn about how these countries managed to reduce the number of road fatalities.