Way to reduce deaths on roads

’Tis the month for statistics and this week, it was the turn of transport head Sindisiwe Chikunga to reveal that, on her watch, fatalities on SA roads over the festive season went down 2.3%.

To be fair, she wasn’t over-the-top in crowing about the achievement – as well she shouldn’t be, because this country still has one of the worst road death rates in the world.

Perhaps as a way to explain why there wasn’t a better result, she dredged up the old ANC excuse, “challenges”.

This time, these were caused by heavy rainfall and storms over the holiday season. And, this was different from previous years in exactly what way, minister?

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But there is a way to dramatically reduce the deaths on our roads and it is well within the capabilities of our government.

The horrifying reality is that 40% of those who die on our roads are pedestrians. And that can be reduced through simply educating people – right from primary school upwards.

Many South Africans violate the cardinal rule of pedestrian safety by walking with the traffic, instead of facing it, so they can take evasive action if necessary. Many also wear dark clothing when walking at night.

That ignorance is killing people.

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