Protesting against the fast and the furious
One of the sad facts about South Africa is that whenever it comes to the festive season at the end of the year or the Easter Weekend towards the middle of the year, we brace ourselves for the reports when we return to work telling us how many people died on the roads during the periods in question.
This year was no different. While we are all no doubt hoping for a festive season where the death toll would not be high, the Department of Transport released statistics pointing out that there were 1 714 deaths recorded on South African roads over the festive season; this is a 5% increase over the same period last year.
The RAF weighs in
One of the companies that bear the brunt of this is the state run Road Accident Fund (RAF). The company that facilitates payments to people who are involved in accidents is funded through a stipend related to the fuel levy that motorists pay when purchasing fuel for their cars.
RAF CEO, Dr Eugene Watson, points out that this statistic places significant strain on not only the RAF, but the country as a whole.
"Despite good intensions, including that of government and other transport entities, the RAF’s claims expenditure still remains unacceptably high at over R32 billion per annum, where each rand paid is painful reminder of the extent to which lives are lost and people seriously injured on our roads. The claims expenditure, coupled with liabilities of more than R150 billion, represent large sums of money our country could assign to valuable services and infrastructure if the war on road crashes is won," said Dr Watson in a media release to the press.
What is being done?
It’s all very well condemning the fact that road deaths in South Africa is unacceptably high after the deaths have occurred, but that’s like lamenting losing a bet on a horse after the race was run, it’s kind of pointless.
We need to ask what is being done about road deaths before we approach seasons where we know there will likely be high death tolls.
Firstly, let’s look at the current rhetoric from government regarding this issue; Transport Minister Dipuo Peters assigned most of the blame for the current festive season death toll to customised high powered cars – which she labels as unsafe – and to what she refers to as stubborn and chauvinistic men.
Addressing the media in Midrand at the beginning of December, Peters said that new road fatality statistics have shown nearly 80% of the deaths on South African can be attributed to the latter issue.
Peters said this while she was delivering a progress report on the state of the Festive Season Road Safety Campaign which was launched at the beginning of December. “We claim no easy victories and we tell no lies in confronting the scourge of road carnage underpinned by lawlessness and a recalcitrant attitude of some of our road users‚” Peters said.
At the final hour
We have a significant problem; the total road deaths in the UK over the hole of 2015 was 1 732 people. In Australia, the road deaths over the whole of 2015 was 1 209 people. More people die on our roads in one month than the yearly total in some countries.
If we have a problem, we need to find a solution. Surely the debate around road safety cannot be confined to the month before the festive season or the month before the Easter Weekend. Surely it should be a debate that should take place over the whole year? Peters speaking at Midrand at the beginning of December, or government hosting a Transport Indaba in December is missing the point.
What else can be done? Perhaps replacing Metro Police officers that hide behind bushes trapping speeding vehicles with visible cameras on the road that physically force cars to slow down is one option. Increasing awareness of drinking and driving is another option and possibly a discussion that also needs to take place over the whole year and not on the eve of holiday periods.
The role of insurance
Firstly, we need to ask how many of the vehicles involved in these accidents are insured. This once again raises the debate about making third party insurance compulsory.
Companies that use telematics as a key offering are improving the industry as it is providing clients with valuable information on what their driving behaviours are.
Editor’s Thoughts:
There is a way to start a national discussion regarding road safety that doesn’t involve pointing the finger of blame. We need to work together to find a workable solution. Please comment below, interact with us on Twitter at @fanews_online or email me your thoughts [email protected].
Comments
With total disregard to the tax paying public who fund them, they have introduced new system on new system without giving it some serious thought - just to fail later on, while still trying to defend their poor decisions. Mismanagement is without doubt a key issue.
The latest mayor failure that cost them dearly was the roll out of the "Siyenza" project in which certain functions of the RAF was outsourced to to private companies - only to be withdrawn late in 2016.
But the worst of all is still to come - the introduction of the "No-Fault" system as proposed in new legislation.
In short it will pay out limited benefits without taking into account the economic circumstances of individuals injured in road accidents - whether they are guilty or not. Even the guilty party will have a legitimate claim against RAF, while the innocent party's compensation will be severely reduced.
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The traffic department could pay their overhead if they just fined the taxi drivers that jump ROBOTS on Louis Botha Ave, Orange Grove to Alexandra on a 24/7 basis. Report Abuse
Reducing the speed limit or making more laws is unlikely to help. The problem we have in SA in general is not the lack of laws, but the enforcement of them.
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