FULL STORY: Concern about Easter road deaths stats
According to the statistics, 235 people died on the country’s roads between 13 and 17 April, an increase of 51% on the 2016 figure
STATISTICS on Easter weekend road fatalities released by Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi in Pretoria last week, are cause for concern and may, when the final numbers are in, be the highest Easter death toll to date.
This is according to the Automobile Association (AA) who viewed the numbers as a sad indictment on road traffic safety and enforcement initiatives.
According to the statistics, 235 people died on the country’s roads between 13 and 17 April, an increase of 51% on the 2016 figure.
Half of those who died were passengers in vehicles, while pedestrians accounted for just under 25% of the fatalities.
While almost all provinces recorded increases in fatalities, the Free State was the one province where roads deaths came down by 27%.
Last year’s preliminary figures recorded 156 deaths on SA’s roads over the Easter period.
However, by the end of the 30-day ‘waiting period’ (which is customary when calculating final numbers) the fatalities rose to by 57% to 245.
If the same applies this year, the final figure may be as high as 370 fatalities – which will be the highest death toll over the Easter period to date.
‘We have said it before many times, and we will continue saying it, not enough is being done to stop the carnage on our roads.
‘Year-in and year-out we are being given statistics that either stay marginally similar to the previous year’s figures, or, sadly, are increasing.
‘And while much is being said about how to turn this situation around, it appears these efforts are at best slow to materialise, at worst ineffective,’ the Association said.
Issues around the problem
One major issue, the Association said, was the continuing problems associated with people buying driving licences instead of earning them, and with the issuing of
fraudulent roadworthy certificates for vehicles which should not be on the road.
While this was touched upon at the media briefing, the AA is concerned that this has been an ongoing discussion and efforts are taking far too long to resolve.
It called upon the Department of Transport and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), which is spearheading investigations into the matter, to make more resources available to deal with the problem.
In addition, more effective policing along with visible consequences for bad driving are needed to begin to address the issues.
‘Too often metropolitan police officers are targeting motorists for expired licence discs, which, quite frankly, are never going to lead to a reduction of road deaths.
‘These officers need to be deployed on the roads, monitoring moving violations, such as reckless and negligent driving. It’s not the cure-all, but it’s at least a start and it needs to start now,’ the AA said.
