A drastic change in driver behaviour will be needed to reduce road fatalities over the Easter holidays and beyond.
By Hlulani Mashaba
Johannesburg - As the country moves closer to the Easter season period, road safety continues to be a matter of grave concern to government and society at large.
This period usually experiences mass exodus of vehicles along major routes to different provinces, especially the N1, N3, N4 and the N12 freeways. The notable increase in traffic flow in the province during the Easter season period, leads to an increase in drunken driving, reckless and negligent driving, excessive speeding, among all other traffic contraventions, resulting in crashes and fatalities.
To further compound the traffic safety situation during this period, is the high pedestrian mortality rate which is attributable to not wearing reflective gear at night, violation of traffic signals, distracted walking, distracted driving, using public roads while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and jaywalking, among others.
All these dangerous driving and pedestrian behaviours contribute immensely to crashes and add to the burden on limited emergency service resources attending to widespread sporadic crashes. On average pedestrian fatalities account for almost 50% of all Gauteng Road traffic fatalities.
Besides the significant emotional and social effects of traffic crashes, research by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) estimated that every road traffic fatality has a combined estimated cost to the economy in excess of R5.4 million.
This is caused by accidents laying-off workers which translates to astronomical cost to the economy. Serious injuries resulting from accident sometimes give rise to irreversible acquired disabilities which becomes an added burden to both families and government. In Gauteng City Region and across the country, pedestrian fatalities remain a major concern for road safety. A drastic reduction of pedestrian deaths will lead to a significant reduction of general fatalities in the province.
According to the 2018 Global Status Report by the United Nations on road safety, 1.35 million deaths occur annually around the world from road traffic crashes, while tens of millions are injured, with consequent immense costs to society and countries economies. The report further reflects that road traffic deaths are the eighth leading cause of deaths, more than HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and diarrhoeal diseases.
International research highlights the fact of road traffic crashes being mostly preventable, often caused by human behaviour. Statistics suggest that human factor contributes to about 87% of road fatalities, while the roads and environmental factors contribute to an estimated 8%, with vehicle factors at 5%.
Road safety is often brought into seasonal focus by many sectors, with specific interest on the Easter and festive season road traffic fatalities. The reality is that road traffic-related injuries are a daily occurrence. Weekends and public holidays are often characterised by significant increases in fatal road traffic crashes.
At this rate, the ambitious target of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50% by 2030 as per the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 remains far-fetched. Considering the above, the Department of Community Safety through Gauteng Traffic Police has jointly with all other law enforcement agencies in the province, developed an Integrated Easter Law Enforcement Plan aimed at promoting road safety.
The plan focuses on known crime hotspots, as well as road traffic crashes hazardous locations (Hazlocs) to reduce crime and road traffic crashes, including fatalities. In addition, the department will deploy Community Patrollers at pedestrian hitch hiking spots on the freeway and places used to cross the freeway to prevent them from entering the freeway. Further to this, community patrollers will also be deployed at public passenger transport hubs to provide help and support to the public, particularly women and children.
Lastly, the Gauteng Traffic Police will ensure vigorous law enforcement targeted interventions during this Easter season period aimed at maintaining high visibility traffic patrol on critical routes, enhancing road safety in hazardous locations, dealing decisively with transgressors on Gauteng roads by enforcing compliance with traffic laws by all categories of road users and contribute towards reduction of crime in general.
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
Mashaba is the deputy Director of media relations at the Gauteng Department of Community Safety.