Mbalula’s road deaths ‘success’ is a national tragedy

While Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula was crowing about the 10% drop in road fatalities over the festive period, experts were warning that it is premature to start popping champagne corks just yet.

Automobile Association spokesperson Layton Beard warned that the figures released by Mbalula this week were “preliminary” and the final number may rise.

Although there was a 3% reduction in the number of crashes over the period, driving safety expert Eugene Herbert of MasterDrive said just over nine times as many people had died on our roads over the festive season than the 176 people who died when Iran shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet recently. The year’s fatalities would equal 80 similar crashes of Boeing 737s, he said.

Another issue not addressed by Mbalula was that the volume of road traffic may have been lower this year – because the depressed economy may have forced many people to stay at home.

Reckless driving, drunken driving and unroadworthy vehicles are still major issues, as is the fact that there are so many fake and corruptly obtained driving licences being used by motorists.

Whatever the “success” Mbalula noted, 53 people a day die on SA roads. And that is a national tragedy.

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