Road deaths stats manipulated, says JPSA
Monitoring period has shortened, skewing the statistics according to Justice Project South Africa.
The Department of Transport is being accused of blatantly manipulating the road deaths statistics reported for December last year in comparison to December 2013.
This according to Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) chairman Howard Dembovsky, who released a press statement on the matter on the same day as the official statement by the department, 5 January.
In it, he disputes the validity of the ‘good news’ statement given by the department regarding road deaths during December. His accusation rests on four concerns noted in the official statement. According to the department’s press statement, 924 fatal crashes and 1143 fatalities were recorded between 1 December and 30 December 2014; in comparison, 974 fatal crashes and 1168 fatalities for the period 1 December 2013 to 7 January 2014 is stated. According to Dembovsky, this mere comparison already highlights serious concerns.
Dembovsky firstly disputes the 2013/14 statistics in the statement, saying that in fact 987 fatal crashes and 1184 fatalities were recorded according to a Department of Transport statement at the time. Furthermore he, on behalf of JPSA, expressed grave concern over the dramatically shortened monitoring period. The previous monitoring period included certain days in January during which many holiday-goers returned to Johannesburg. The 2012/13 period, in comparison, monitored until 10 January 2012.
“This year, it would appear that the Department of Transport is seeking to shave a further full week off the monitoring period to make the situation appear to be significantly better than it really is,” Dembovsky in a press statement said.
“JPSA is very concerned about the blatant manipulation of information that is coming out of the Department of Transport and which is resulting in misinformation and outright lies being spread.
“It is remarkable and of grave concern that the Department of Transport cannot remember what it has said in its own media statements and a speech delivered by the Minister of Transport six days ago.”
