Durban - ROAD safety advocates say they are not surprised by the 16% increase in fatalities recorded nationwide over the festive season.
Transport Minister Blade Nzimande released the preliminary Festive Season Road Safety Report yesterday, saying there were 1286 crashes and 1612 fatalities nationwide during the period December 1, 2018 to January 8, 2019.
Of these, KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 267 crashes and 328 fatalities, an increase from 324 last year.
When the minister released the mid-festive season preliminary road safety report, KZN had already recorded 162 fatalities, the most out of all provinces.
Road Safety Action Campaign founder Richard Benson said half of the fatalities would have been prevented had South Africa’s speed limits coincided with those from overseas.
“I am calling on the South African government to reduce speed limits by copying those of Sweden and Australia because this could save lives immediately,” Benson said.
He said President Cyril Ramaphosa had spoken of job creation while there was a shortage of traffic officers. Matriculants should be trained and could be on the road as officers in a year or two, he said.
Benson agreed with the minister about reclassifying drunk driving.
“It should be reclassified as murder because people will continue to drink and drive if you don’t take it seriously and prosecute people,” he said.
He said the death toll would be cut in half if vehicles travelled at low speeds.
South Africans Against Drunk Driving director Caro Smit said the increase in deaths was sad, but not surprising.
“We need to do more things that will be proactive to save lives. We’re reactive in KZN,” she said.
Smit added that money should be spent on breathalysers and traffic officers, or else people would continue to drink and drive. “We’re happy that traffic officers are checking people for seatbelts, but they are only checking those in the front. What about the people in the back?” she asked.
Justice Project South Africa chairperson Howard Dembovsky said Nzimande was correct in that that there had been much talk about the Aarto Act and demerit system, but this had not been implemented.
Dembovsky added that the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and ministers such as Nzimande and Dipuo Peters failed to understand the Criminal Procedure Act, which stated that an accused had to appear in a court within 48 hours.
He said that the RTMC proposed that drunk drivers should spend at least seven days behind bars before being considered for bail and that drinking and driving should be raised from a schedule 2 to a schedule 5 offence. “What they are saying is that a person accused of premeditated murder must spend at least five days less in a holding cell than a person accused of drunk driving,” he said.