AS THE festive season draws to a close, SA’s road fatalities have seen a surge since December 1, with another bloody Christmas Day when six people lost their lives.
Three other people sustained injuries when a Ford Ranger double cab, suspected to be overloaded, overturned after the driver allegedly lost control near Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
There have been more than 720 road fatalities across the country since December 1.
After Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga released the preliminary festive road season statistics last week, Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse chief executive Wayne Duvenage said South Africa had the worst statistics when it came to fatalities.
“We are in the worst quartile in the world when it comes to road fatalities, and we have been on this for a while now, according to the UN programme … Nothing changes. We have between 12 000 and 14 000 fatalities in a year and it’s also an increase per capita.
“The worst situation there is that every time there are fatalities on our roads, you need to (multiply) the number of fatalities by 15, and that is the number of people who would be injured in that scene.
“Besides the cost of damage to property, doctors’ bills, serious injuries and fatalities themselves, there is 3.5% of our gross domestic product. We really have to do something about this because it's not getting better,” he said.
Duvenage blamed the road carnage in the country on poor governance and the change of ministers in the last 12 years.
“We have had about 10 ministers over the last 12 to 13 years … It’s a dire situation and we must address the situation but it seems it's not taken seriously by authority,” he said.
In 2015, the Transport Ministry introduced the national road strategy to reduce the number of deaths by 50% from 2016 to 2030. Meeting that goal did not look promising.
“It's not getting any better, but reducing 50% is going to require a lot of work and commitment,” Duvenage said.
He called for visible policing for the remainder of the festive season.
“Visible policing is one of our biggest failures here … SA is the only country where you can probably drive without a driver’s licence, without a valid licence and a roadworthy car and get away with it for the rest of your life.
“The government somehow thinks the demerit system will work but it won’t, not without visible policing and the government working with civil society and business to curb the scourge of road fatalities.”
Last week, Chikunga announced the statistics, which were meant to provide the department with insight into problem areas and how to fix them.
She said road fatalities had decreased by 32 compared to the same time last year, adding that more than 700 people dying within three weeks was too high.
“Can that be prevented? Yes, it can. Is it that we’re supposed to have 719 people dying in just three weeks? Definitely not. We need people in South Africa to obey the rules of the roads. It can be done, and we can save lives.
“This therefore means we have reduced the numbers by 32 fatalities, which is 32 dead bodies that were saved,” Chikunga said.
Gauteng and Mpumalanga had more fatalities than other provinces.
She said most of the crashes had taken place at night and in the early morning hours.
In June this year, a study published by Compare the Market Australia also found that South Africa had the worst rates when it came to fatal road accidents overall.
The report was quoted as saying that South African males were responsible for 34.9 fatalities per 100 000 people, compared to 9.9 for females.
mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za