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Free State police arrested four people driving around in the stolen vehicle of a Gauteng murder victim. Photo: Bongiwe Mchunu
South Africa is the only country where one is more likely to be murdered than to be killed in a road accident, an SA Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) survey has found.
“That our murder rate exceeds killings on the roads does not mean that road fatalities are low, only that our high murder rate is even higher than our high road fatality rate,” researcher Kerwin Lebone said on Monday.
The study was based on information from the road traffic corporation and the police for the 2010/11 financial year ending last March.
It found that 32 South Africans per 100 000 died as a result of being murdered, while 28 per 100 000 died in road accidents.
“International data shows that the rate of road deaths is always much higher than the murder rate throughout the world,” Lebone said.
In the United States, for example, road fatalities accounted for three times more deaths than murder.
Only Limpopo and Mpumalanga came close to the international norm, with twice as many people killed in road deaths than through murder.
According to the survey, the murder rate declined seven percent on the previous year.
Data showed that the proportion of people murdered had halved in the 17 years since 1994. – Sapa
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Anonymous, wrote
@Whoopwhoop your country loves you more. @Clint_ZA true stats can be manipulated. Mad love for SA!
Anonymous, wrote
This is what you get from a corrupt government. They are too busy lining their pockets and offshore bank accounts to worry about the "bothersome citizens" who voted for them. Viva Corruption! Viva! Potholes? What Potholes? Crime? What Crime?
jason, wrote
Fact is, you are safer running accross the M1 than watching TV at home. Last I did the sums, 52 people a day are murdered in South Africa - easy to remember due to 52 weeks in a year! We see so little of this in the news. As one reader said, both are to high - road deaths and murders.
Anonymous, wrote
"Data showed that the proportion of people murdered had halved in the 17 years since 1994" - only because they have reclassified the definition of murder!!
champagne, wrote
Instead of arguing about the stats maybe we should just accept that BOTH are too high and start doing something about it. No country is perfect but how about we try and make SA a better place for all.
@Clint_ZA, wrote
You are quite right. Road accident deaths are impersonal incidents where people unknown to each other pass away. With murder the victim almost always knows the perpetrator. Often murder is drug related or related to some other criminal activity. The stats do not tell the true story. Also, the stats have come down significantly in the last few years.
Anonymous, wrote
Justin, wrote
I admire all the patriotism. State sponsored violence is indeed banished from legality but it will return under the secrecy bill. Our state endorses violence by omission by means of policies, actions, personnel deployments, unenforced court orders, collusion between state and perpetrators all of which do not show up on the radar of the happy campers we have posting here. We can make the stats say anything we want them to say but the fact remains that our high road death rate is caused by the same mentality as the high murder rate. We cannot be trusted with being responsible or considerate towards our country men, in general. Facts are facts. We drink to get drunk, we kill those who deny us immediate gratification (Women killed in tavern for slapping her groper), we slap our bitches up (domestic violence and intimate partner femicide number 1 killer of women in SA), beat our children down (child rape capital of the world), and generally kill ourselves and others because we know not what we are doing. I love positive people but I looked over the neighbourhood fence.
Clint_ZA, wrote
Anyone with a basic understanding of stats will know that you can make them say what ever you want them to. I would be interested in finding out what number of South Africans travel on our roads and then what number come in contact with other humans. Those who do not travel on our roads have no chance of being killed in a road accident but everyone who comes in contact with another human has a chance of being murdered. This really seems like just another attempt to use stats to sensationalise things and sell papers. I am not for one second underestimating the terrible crime and road accident stats in this country but I for one will not run around panicking because these stats now show this.
Ezp, wrote
Whoopwhoop, wrote
Oh golly gosh, I guess that means im going to have to move to a country like Australia or perhaps New Zealand. Maybe I could move to Zimbabwe or China, they have a good human rights record. Wait! I think im buying a ticket to Mexico, their drug related murders are waaaay cooler that SA. Oooops forgot Saudi, they stone woman to death, and the honour killings are just plain good human practice. I know I cant make it in the states, ill be begging for scraps with their current state of affairs. Oh well, home is where the heart is, and if we have a good look at the grass on the other side, it sure looks better here, even smells better too. Then again, the water can be drank from a tap, and the dams are full, and we still cultivate our own vegetables, and we dont have the chemical induced deaths like other countries. I love this country!!!!!with all its faults. Love you SA!
jen, wrote
Anonymous, wrote
Anonymous, wrote
isn't it obvious-time to bring back the death penalty otherwise murderers have no fear. Shame on ANC for ignoring the reality and for subjected South Africans to higher probability of being murdered than killed in a car accident.
ian, wrote
Welcome to a South Africa where hiding behind trees with speed cameras is the modus operandi - all this whilst taxis drive at outrageous speeds (they are limited to 100kph on open road),overtaking on blind rises and corners is the norm, red robots mean "Go go go" for at leat 3-4 people, over taking in yellow lines on wrong side of road is endemic, taxis parking ion major cross-sections or acros traffic intersections is the norm AND THIS BLOODY government wonders what is WRONG? Bast!!rds!!!!
Deborah, wrote
Les, wrote
Showing items 1 - 17 of 17
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