BOOZE ‘THE WORST CULPRIT ON ROADS’

MORE THAN 1 200 road crashes caused the deaths of nearly 1 500 people over the festive season across South Africa, transport authorities have confirmed.

PICTURE: DUMISANI DUBE   WRECKAGE This is all that was left of an Audi R8 after it’s driver hit a tree, a pole and a lamp post during a high-speed chase in Rosebank, Joburg, yesterday. Two people were killed in the accident

Transport Minister Ben Martins announced the preliminary road deaths in Durban yesterday and said the crashes were caused by drunk driving, speeding, dangerous overtaking, failure to use seatbelts and vehicle unroadworthiness.

“According to the SA Police Service, it is estimated that approximately 1 465 people lost their lives,” Martins said. He added that the deaths occurred between December 1 and January 8, and 40 percent of the crashes involved pedestrians, most of whom walked on roads drunk.

He called for a ban on alcohol advertising to prevent motorists driving drunk.

The number of death has decreased since December 2011, when the festive death toll stood at around 1 700.

Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) acting chief executive officer Collins Letsoala said 60 percent of the crashes were caused by drunk drivers and they cost the economy R180 billion of the R306 billion lost to road deaths annually.

According to the Automobile Association of SA (AA) these numbers are an indication of the lack of “cohesive” direction from the various government transport associations.

While the AA was devastated by the high number of crashes and fatalities announced, the South African public are still not getting the full picture of the carnage on a month to month basis, it said.

“The Decade of Action was launched in 2011, and since then, no real projects other than enforcement have been implemented. Real action to curb the road carnage is impossible when there is no cohesive strategy,” said Gary Ronald, head of public affairs at the AA.

He added that despite several strategies, from various transport bodies, there was still no policy framework for road safety in evidence.

The Decade of Action for Road Safety was launched on May 11, 2011, and had governments from around the world take a decision to increase action to address road safety and to prevent five million road deaths globally by 2020.

“The continuing division between these bodies is clearly doing more harm than good as the number of deaths on our roads has not decreased over the 2012 period,” Ronald said.

He said that the AA was engaging with the government to find a workable solution.

“Planning is only as good as it’s implementation and that we have seen little of,” he said.

The AA will be engaging with government at a senior level to find a workable solution to the problems preventing road safety from working on South Africa’s roads, Ronald added.

Over the festive season, 1 282 586 vehicles were stopped and checked at 226 road block operations and resulted in 3 944 arrests for various offences.

Letsoala said there would be a renewed focus on corrupt driving schools and officers.

Meanwhile, Sapa reported that a motorist who raced away while a policeman was in his car searching for drugs, killed them both when he crashed in Rosebank in Joburg during a high speed chase yesterday, said police.

Lieutenant- Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said two police officers stopped the Audi R8 and searched it.

When they found a small amount of dagga, the driver sped off with one police officer still inside the vehicle. The other policeman gave chase in the police van.

“The Audi driver lost control in Rosebank and hit a tree, a wall and a light pole,” said Dlamini.

The policeman and the motorist were declared dead at the scene.

Dlamini said the policeman’s name would be released after his family had been informed.