DEAR Editor;
The 14% increase in road fatalities during the 2021/2022 festive season compared to the 2020/2021 festive season is shocking and worrying and points to the need for urgent intervention and not promises of change.
The horrific figures, released by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula earlier this week will not be dealt with effectively unless effective amendments are made to current road safety practices.
The fact that 1685 people died on the country’s roads from December 1, 2021 to January 11, 2022 indicates that current approaches are simply ineffective.
And unless the urgent intervention focuses on road safety education, more extensive traffic law enforcement, and better prosecution of offenders, these numbers will not reduce.
Also, focusing on single aspects of road safety such as drunk driving while ignoring others such as pedestrian safety will not result in significant reductions in road fatalities.
South Africa is far from achieving international targets it agreed to at the third Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Stockholm, Sweden in early 2020.
At that conference, South Africa committed itself to the international target of reducing road fatalities by half by 2030 as part of the worldwide 50BY30 Campaign.
Given the current road safety framework in the country – one which continually blames human error as the major cause of crashes and road deaths – these targets will remain unattainable.
Unless a more comprehensive approach which focuses on safer drivers, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds and better post-crash intervention, and which involves inputs from civil society organisations such as the AA, our dire road fatality statistics will never improve.
Further, it’s perplexing that Minister Mbalula remarks that, “We have just concluded one of the most challenging festive season campaigns, which stretched our resources to the limit, putting a strain on our law enforcement operations.”
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), the lead agency responsible for road safety in South Africa, had a surplus of more than R260m in its 2020 financial year.
This raises serious questions about the allocation of funds to promote road safety and the Minister’s claim that resources are being stretched to the limit.
AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AFRICA
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