‘Festive season road deaths a catastrophe’ – JPSA
WHO TO BELIEVE? Transport Minister says fatalities on our roads during the 2018/ 19 festive season showed a decrease, while Justice Project South Africa says there was an increase.
The announcement made by Transport Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, that 1 612 people died during the 2018/ 19 festive season yet again represents a catastrophic event in the history of South Africa according to the Justice Project South Africa (JPSA).
Howard Dembovsky, the JPSA chairperson, said he could not understand how the figure announced on Wednesday, 16 January had declined by around 200 over the road deaths announced by SABC radio on 28 December 2018.
“It is also hard to see how this festive season’s fatalities of 1 612 allegedly represents a “reduction of 7 per cent” when the reported figure up to 9 January 2019 was 1 573,” Dembovsky said.
“This represents a 2,5 per cent increase in road fatalities over the same period last year and a fatality rate of 42 people per day.”
JPSA has said the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) continued to use unequal monitoring periods.
According to Dembovksy, in 2017/ 18, the monitoring period was 1 December to 15 January (46 days). In 2018/ 19 it was 1 December to 8 January (39 days).
“This means that the number of people killed per day on the roads over the Christmas period has risen from 36 last year to 42 this year. We should not be satisfied about a 17 per cent increase in the daily fatality rate,” Dembovsky commented.
Dembovsky added that Nzimande’s announcement contained incorrect information about the role of bail, and again promoted the fiction that it is legally possible for serious road traffic offences to be re-classified to Schedule 5 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1997 (as amended).
JPSA referred to its previous statements on how the RTMC and Department of Transport has misinterpreted the Schedules of the Criminal Procedure Act, and specifically how no provision exists in that Act to detain anyone accused of any crime, no matter how serious, for “a minimum of 7 days” without being brought before a court for a formal bail hearing.
“It is glaringly obvious that the RTMC, together with the Department and Minister of Transport, continue to do the same things and expect different results,” Dembovsky said.
“Most notably, it is clear that the RTMC lacks understanding or control of the road safety situation,” he concluded.
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