Bumper cars

Another depressing discussion topic in SA is road safety. I happened to buy a paper yesterday in Spar (in fact I was forced to buy it; I was told to wait ten minutes before being served at the meat counter; so I browsed a daily; apparently this is not allowed).

One of the articles in ‘The New Age’ was about road traffic accidents. Statistics have just been published on accidents and driving offences over the month of December across the country. They are chastening. Put simply, SA is by far the most dangerous place to drive in Africa (and therefore the world?). As evidence, it has 20% of the cars on the continent but 60% of road accidents.

The most terrifying time to drive in the country is over the Christmas period. This year the number killed over the month of December was 1551 or about 50 people everyday. This number does not include all those seriously and permanently injured. The only good news is that this represented a fall from the previous year – 1761. The highest rate of deaths this year was in our province – 232 or about 8 per day.

It is not difficult to explain the reasons for the massive number of fatalities. The first, and most obvious, is the level of driving proficiency of many behind the wheel. Every journey we make is littered with near hits. Overtaking manoeuvres are regularly undertaken on the brow of a hill, round a blind corner or in spite of fast approaching on coming vehicles. Around Ingwavuma, we drive on mountainous roads with tight sharp corners. Drivers often seem unaware of the need to slow down for bends and so swing across the road. Estimates are that 80% of all accidents are due to driver error.

Thus bad driving is one big contributory factor. Poor visibility (particularly bad on some days in the mountains that surround us) and pot holes (especially craterous in KZN) are estimated to account for 8% of accidents.

Another big cause is unroadworthy cars. Understandably vehicles have much longer lives here. Though all of them should receive annual MOTs, many do not. For this is expensive. Many are old pick-up trucks. They can often be seen transporting 10-15 people – most standing up in the back. The doctors at Mosvold regularly treat patients who have fallen out the back.

The final noxious ingredient is drink driving. I’m told that motorist in the cities are randomly breathalysed. But it doesn’t happen in rural areas. As a result, there is little concern in rural KZN about driving under the influence.

And so we can now formulate the equation. Bad driving, bad roads, bad vehicles and alcohol = 1551 dead in December.

If the first stage of the solution is recognising the problem, then SA is making progress. Indeed, as already mentioned, they have reduced the number of road deaths from this time last year. And the police focus particularly hard on the problem. But the challenge is huge. Over December they stopped one and a half million motorist. One third of these were found to have violated the Road Traffic Act.

All of this has two consequences for us. Firstly, we wear our seat belts. Secondly, we are after a good medical kit for the car. Thus far, Mary has yet to be first on the scene for any road accidents – though we have stopped at many. This is almost certain to change.

Anyway, next blog entry I promise to write about something cheery.