"Which thousand is it going to be in February?” asked Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele, referring to a recent study by the Road Traffic Management Corporation which found that at least 1 000 people died on South African roads every month.
"Which thousand is it going to be in February?” asked Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele, referring to a recent study by the Road Traffic Management Corporation which found that at least 1 000 people died on South African roads every month.
Ndebele was presenting the preliminary festive season road accident statistics on Tuesday. Despite a drop in fatal crashes on South Africa’s roads this past festive season, he said, the number of people killed on the country’s roads every year remained unacceptably high.
At least 1 551 people lost their lives in road accidents across the country from 1 December to 5 January – down by about 200 from the 1 761 recorded in the same period the previous year. Ndebele slammed the behaviour of some motorists, saying most accidents could be avoided if people paid attention to road safety.
He said research had singled out speeding, unsafe overtaking and fatigue as the causes of most accidents. While Ndebele attributed this year's drop in road accident deaths to strict law-enforcement, he called for more community involvement in the fight against what he described as carnage on the country’s roads. “Speeding, speeding, speeding – we cannot over emphasise this point: speed kills,” he said, citing the example of a Johannesburg motorist caught travelling at 208 km/h and three times over the legal alcohol limit.
“The question every South African must ask is, who it is going to be this month?" Ndebele said, pointing out that this country's figures were exceedingly high compared to countries like Australia and New Zealand, where fewer than 120 road deaths were recorded each month.
Most fatal crashes were in KwaZulu-Natal, where 20 died in a single accident on 23 December. Gauteng recorded 200 fatal crashes, followed by the Eastern Cape with 169. Limpopo and Western Cape had 155 and 127 fatal crashes respectively.
The Northern Cape proved to be the safest province, with only 35 fatal crashes recorded there. Authorities have promised tougher action, with amendments in the Road Traffic Act already having led to many errant drivers having had their licences suspended.
The amendments allow for the suspension of a driver’s license for anyone caught driving more 30km/h above the prescribed speed limit. The suspension ranges anything from six months to 10 years, depending on the number of offences. More than four million vehicles were stopped and more than two million fines issued throughout the festive season – well above the million-a-month target announced by the Department of Transport in August last year. – BuaNews
