Proper driver training needed in SA

It is hard to imagine but driving standards in South Africa have plunged even further since 2019.

Some are saying it has something to do with Covid and the lockdowns which kept people off the roads – but that is yet another typical cop-out: assigning blame to the wrong place.

The elephant in the room is that we do not train drivers properly – and we tolerate the rampant bribery and corruption which allows so many to get onto our roads in charge of vehicles when, in reality, they should not be allowed to operate a wheelbarrow without supervision.

ALSO READ: SA roads don’t kill, bad drivers do

Dial Direct insurance head Anneli Retief said their monitoring of motorists’ behaviour indicates that people are 40% more likely to be involved in an accident than they were in 2019.

Road Traffic Management Corporation spokesperson Simon Zwane cites alcohol abuse and bad driving habits as being major contributors to our road carnage.

He is also spot-on when he says things could improve if law enforcement was better.

And that is not going to happen because our cops are making too much money from bribes.

We also need basic education on road safety at school, because 40% of those killed on our roads are pedestrians.