Road deaths down compared to 2013

The Department of Transport registered some decline in relation to the crashes and fatalities compared to the previous year.

In a statement released by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters, the 2014 Fatal Crashes are 539 resulting in 677 fatalities whilst last year they had 764 fatal crashes resulting in 917 fatalities.

• 35 per cent reduction in fatalities compared to the same period last year
• 42 per cent reduction in crashes

“We approach the remaining days of our festive days with mixed feelings as some of our follow South Africans are mourning the passing of their loved ones due to irresponsible usage of our roads. It is disturbing that some of these senseless carnages could have been avoided. Some of our fellow South Africans are on a very jubilant mood and looking forward to share and celebrate this memorable day with those they hold dear and close to their hearts,” Peters said.                     

“It is with a heavy heart that I should express our sincere condolences on behalf of the Ministry and the Department of Transport to all those who lost their loved ones due to reckless usage of our roads. May their souls rest in peace and to those family members we wish to assure them that sun will shine again.

“Our road safety programmes are not only meant for the festive season and are not implemented in isolation, but forms part of an ongoing programme of campaigns that the Department of Transport, and its agencies carried out in conjunction with the transport stakeholders, other law enforcement agencies and the general public throughout the year to ensure that lives are saved.

“Road traffic fatalities are amongst the main causes of death in South Africa. This results in serious social and economic costs for the country. These consequences include the loss of family members who are bread winners and leave behind traumatized families. The economic ramifications include the increase in the social development and health budgets spent.

“During the announcements of the festive season statistics on January the 9th, I made a clarion call and endured all road users to be ambassadors of road safety and simultaneously extended our hand to all South Africans to fight the scourge of road carnages. This call was informed by our deep appreciation and understanding that together we can save lives and move South Africa forward. We all have a joint responsibility to use our roads in a responsible way, while decisively deal with lawlessness, reckless attitude and irresponsible behaviour.

“Our commitment and determination to robustly roll out our 3-6-5 day road safety programmes significantly focused on road safety education, engineering, enforcement and evaluation. This is our commitment as a country to UN Decade of Action for road safety.

“In partnering with our provinces and all stakeholders amongst other the Interfaith, road Freight Association, taxi industry to mention a few, we relentlessly mobilised all our communities and inculcated a culture of road safety awareness.

“Notwithstanding these endeavors, we are still confronted with challenges pertaining to attitude of road users and irresponsible usage of our roads. The current state of affairs as from the 1 December 2014 to 23 December 2014 tells us a story. The story is that passengers are mostly affected followed by pedestrians.”

The two respectively account for 37 per cent and 35 per cent of total fatalities.

• Passengers 37 per cent
• Pedestrians 35 per cent
• Drivers 25 per cent
• Cyclists 2 per cent
• Unclassified 1 per cent

It is worrying to note that the following types of vehicles contributed significantly to road crashes namely:

• Light Motor vehicles 46 per cent
• Light Delivery Vehicle 21 per cent
• Minibus 9 per cent
• Trucks 7 per cent
• Buses 1 per cent
• Other vehicles 16 per cent