According to the World Health Organization, South Africa has one of the poorest road safety records, and I assume this is no news to anyone who reads this blog. In 2019, it was estimated that 14 000 people died due to road accident-related injuries. The government spent 147 billion Rand relating to these fatal accidents. Not that it is palatable to compare deaths with the cost thereof, however, it does speak to the mammoth pressure these accidents place on our economy.
Accidents are typically caused by 8 factors, in order of frequency:
- Distractions
- Drunk driving
- Speeding
- Reckless driving
- J-walking
- Weather
- Poor road conditions
- Vehicle faults
The list’s order can be disputed; however, the fact remains that there are things we can stop doing to avoid accidents. If you text while you drive, you are 23% more likely to be involved in an accident. According to Arrive Alive, 50% of people who die in road accidents have a blood alcohol concentration above 0.05 grams per 100 millilitres.
Further, Arrive Alive reports that driving over 80km/h makes you 20 times more likely to die in a possible road accident. Reckless driving includes not stopping properly at a stop sign, driving through a red robot, driving in a car that is not road worthy etc. J-walking, i.e. pedestrians walking over roads, especially during the evening, is a huge factor in South Africa. This is because many large informal settlements are situated next to busy roads, and by virtue thereof, pedestrians cross the roads and often end up getting hit by a vehicle.
Bad weather that often causes vehicle accidents are weather conditions such as fog, heavy rain and/or hail. Poor road conditions is something that citizens of South Africa (especially the Free State) would probably rank right at the top, however, that is beyond the scope of this blog. Lastly, vehicle faults is self-explanatory.
It is obvious from these statistics that some of these factors are not within an ordinary citizen’s realm of control such as the situation of informal settlements next to busy roads, or vehicle faults, the weather conditions or poor road conditions. However, there are things we can do to prevent these senseless deaths. So next time you get behind the wheel, avoid your phone, do not drive even if you have only had one drink and avoid speeding. In so doing, you will help in decreasing these statistics and helping more people arrive alive.