ROAD DEATHS DOWNON 2012, BUT GRIM REALITY REMAINS

 

• 10 Jan 2014
• Cape Argus
• Murray Williams and Sapa

Holiday toll nudges 1 400, but horror N1 crash in Cape gets year off to a black start

MAJOR CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS WERE DRUNK DRIVING, SPEEDING AND FAILURE TO WEAR SEATBELTS

IT WAS a summer holiday of carnage, with 1 376 people dying on the country’s roads between December 1 and January 7.

PICTURE: LEON MÜLLERLUCKY ESCAPE Two people were injured last month when their car hit a pole on the M5 between the Kenilworth and Rondebosch turn-offs

Even the fact that the figures announced by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters yesterday were 182 down on the tally a year ago did not seem much like good news.

Although the number of road deaths in the Western Cape was down last month, there has been a spike this month, largely because of the nine people who died in crash outside De Doorns on the N1 this week.

The provisional death toll on the Western Cape’s roads over the festive season was released yesterday by the Western Cape Transport Department and provided by the Department of Health’s Forensic Pathology Services.

Last month, 129 people died on the roads – down from 153 in the same month in 2012, 135 in 2011 and 150 in 2010.

Worryingly, the number of pedestrian deaths for last month was up, at 60 – as opposed to 55 in 2012, 50 in 2011 and 47 in 2010.

The number of deaths on motorbikes was up slightly, at 10, but passenger deaths were significantly down – at 32, compared with 59, 51 and 68 in previous Decembers.

By Wednesday morning, 37 people had died on the roads, up from 20, 24 and 30 in the preceding years’ first seven days.

Peters’s release of the provisional figures yesterday has sparked another row, with DA MP Ian Ollis saying the reporting period should end on Monday, after the coming weekend, when many people will be returning home from their holidays. Yesterday’s release meant any deaths over the weekend would be excluded.

But Peters brushed this criticism aside. “I am not going to respond to those who are sitting outside and barking when people are losing their lives. In fact, what we need to do is to capture numbers every day and notify South Africans on how many people are dying on our roads.

“Those who say we shouldn’t have released the statistics, they can continue speaking, we have work to do.”

Peters said most accidents were due to irresponsible and “disrespectful” conduct.

The major causes of accidents were drunk driving, speeding, reckless overtaking, driver fatigue, failure to wear seatbelts, unroadworthy vehicles, and unlicensed or illegally licensed drivers, she told reporters in Pretoria.

“May 2014 be the year that we turn the corner on road carnage and ensure that we drive with the right documents. There is only one licence issued by the Transport Department. We are in control over that and if you are reckless, we are going to withdraw your driver’s licence.”

Free State Roads and Transport MEC Butana Komphela said if he had his way he would eliminate driving schools.

“Minister, the driving schools have rampant corruption. I wish we would not have a driving school at all. They leave money in the cars for the traffic officer who is testing to pick up. I think we should do it, teaching learner drivers on our own. Many of the licences that are not okay are caused by these private driving schools.”

The DA has called for a special parliamentary investigation into the high death toll over the festive season.

Ollis said: “The investigation should result in the recommendation of programmes that will reduce the unnecessary loss of lives on our roads, as well as a review of the manner in which these deaths are reported by the Department of Transport.

“A major shift is needed to drastically reduce the number of lives lost on our roads.”

Ollis said the figures were also underreported, as the department used police reports to measure road deaths, and not data from forensic mortuaries.

“Minister Peters has a responsibility to report on the matter fairly. She has not done so,” Ollis said.

Drunk-drive botch-up

STEPHAN HOFSTATTER and PEARLIE JOUBERT | 05 January, 2014

Roadblock. File photo.

Police and traffic officers in South Africa's top tourist cities are making thousands of drunk-driving arrests that fail to result in convictions, amid claims that dockets are being tampered with for cash.

Internal documents obtained by Sunday Times reporters reveal that at Durban Central police station alone, 1481 arrests in 2012 led to only 111 convictions - a rate of 7.5%. This excludes thousands of dockets a year opened at other Durban police stations.

In Cape Town, 3022 drunk drivers were arrested in 2012 and 3089 in 2013, with fewer than 7% convicted, according to a senior official with access to provincial statistics.

Several senior officers interviewed in different parts of the country - some with direct knowledge of the cases - blamed corruption and chasing arrest quotas for dismal conviction rates. All spoke on condition of anonymity. One received death threats this week after Sunday Times reporters began to make enquiries.

They said police officers were not encouraged to build tight cases because convictions did not affect promotion prospects.

"At a typical roadblock, you employ up to 20 SA Police Service and metro police members for an eight-hour shift, getting paid overtime," said one official. "You need a booze bus, blood kits, a nurse to draw blood. Then you need two or three members to drive up to Pretoria every week to take these samples to the lab. It's a very costly, fruitless expense to the state. These members could be used to fight other crimes."

The official also said police officers were being paid to deliberately throw cases.

Another senior police officer said convictions were rare, either because the police botched the cases - intentionally or not - or the prosecutors withdrew charges. "They're also chasing targets and don't want these cases to clog up the courts. It's a scam."

A third official estimated that "80% and 90% of all drunken driving cases are thrown out of court or withdrawn because of botched blood samples or straightforward corruption".

"If one out of every 200 drunken driving cases gets a conviction, it's a lot," he said.

Another official agreed that the figures did not add up. "There's a huge discrepancy between the number of drunks caught and the number of convictions for drinking and driving," he said.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate confirmed this week that Durban Central police station was in its sights.

"We are investigating a systemic corruption matter related to about 200 drunk-driving cases," said spokesman Moses Dlamini. "There are indeed cases where it is clear there is a problem."

Sunday Times reporters have seen a sample of 17 suspicious drunk-driving dockets at Durban Central from arrests in 2010, 2011 and 2012 in which charges were withdrawn - in all but one case by the same officer, a Captain NEP Ndlazi.

In six cases, Ndlazi closed the dockets several months before blood samples arrived from the laboratory.

The dockets are replete with other errors. In one case, the arresting officer failed to specify the time of the offence. In another, the time of taking a blood sample was "tampered with". Several dockets contain sworn statements showing that chain-of-evidence statements have gone missing or have not been signed - all grounds for throwing a case out.

In six cases, the forensic laboratory said the blood sample could not be analysed because it was "clotted", "dried in transit" or was "too small".

This was highly unlikely to happen without deliberate tampering, one official said. "What they do is put the sample in the microwave or leave it in the boot of the car on a hot day."

A government pathologist, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak to the media, confirmed blood samples taken at roadblocks "generally arrive in good condition" at laboratories.

Ndlazi refused to comment on specific allegations. "I will only discuss the allegations with the person investigating, who must come to me with all the evidence," she said.

Three cases involved minibus drivers transporting passengers. One was chased by a police vehicle after jumping a red light. He abandoned his taxi and fled on foot. When he was caught, he had bloodshot eyes and "smelt of liquor". Another minibus driver reeked of booze and had to be handcuffed after resisting arrest.

Several of the drivers told the Sunday Times they had no idea why the charges against them had been withdrawn. "They said they would contact me and nothing ever happened after that," said one. "It did feel a bit strange."

Another, who, according to his docket, was so intoxicated that he was "unable to blow into the breathalyser", confirmed the charges against him had been withdrawn, but declined to say why. "I got a lawyer," he said.

hofstatters@sundaytimes.co.za

joubertp@sundaytimes.co.za

December road deaths may be highest since 2007

Sapa | 02 January, 2014 14:35

File photo.
Image by: Gallo Images/Thinkstock

The number of road deaths between December 1 and 30 last year would likely be the highest recorded since 2007, an advanced driving skills company said.

A total of 1184 deaths took place over this period, or 39.5 deaths per day, www.driving.co.za managing director Rob Handfield-Jones said in a statement.

"This exceeds the record figure of 38 per day for the 2012 festive season. The Christmas period for 2013/2014 will end on January 13, by which time I expect the death toll to be approximately 1736 deaths based on past and current trends."

Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) spokeswoman Thato Mosena said Handfield-Jones should not create the impression the corporation was not doing enough, as road safety was a collective effort.

"We need all role players to join hands to reduce road deaths. We have an international commitment to reduce road deaths through the 2011 United Nations strategy of action," she said.

"This is a collective effort."

Handfield-Jones, who has monitored road deaths during the Christmas and Easter periods since 2007, believed the current figure could rise between 15 and 20 percent after the 30-day waiting period for road deaths had lapsed.

This meant the 2013/2014 festive season could become the first with over 2000 road deaths.

The main reason for road deaths increasing over the festive season was the failure of government to provide road safety leadership, he said.

According to the transport department and RTMC, the preliminary road deaths for previous years were:

• December 2007: 1142 people killed (the final figure was 1535);
• December 2008: 937 people;
• December 2009: 1050 people;
• December 2010: 1358 people;
• December 2011: 1232 people; and
• December 2012: 1279 people.

The figures for all the years except 2010 were for the month of December. The 2010 figure included deaths up to and including January 4.

The final death toll figures for the Decembers since 2007 had been higher than the preliminary figure.

"People only drive as badly as their governments allow them to," Handfield-Jones said.

"In countries like the USA and United Kingdom it is socially unacceptable to be a bad driver. Government road safety systems in those countries are aimed at improving competence."

South Africa, he believed, was the opposite.

"The RTMC showed a brief flash of intent while Gilberto Martins was acting CEO, but has since gone silent," Handfield-Jones said.

"Licensing is a corrupt mess, with probably half of all licences being issued fraudulently."

This created a culture of bribery among drivers who did not recognise the fatal consequences of illegally getting a licence.

To fix the problem, Handfield-Jones believed government needed to fix the poor gathering of road safety data, overhaul the licensing system, and prioritise law enforcement for moving violations.

"As long as the key priority of law enforcers is revenue generation rather than safety, South Africa's road deaths will continue to mount," he said.

Mosena said road safety began at a community level.

"We can't do it alone. We need to start at a community level to spread and enforce the message that road safety is a priority and we must reduce road deaths.

"We are concerned as the RTMC that there are some among us who are responsible for road deaths, and the reduction in road deaths is an urgent non-negotiable call."