No regular road deaths stats

2003-12-10 12:50

Pretoria - The department of transport will not issue statistics on this December's holiday road fatalities on a daily or even weekly basis as in the past, deputy director-general Sipho Khumalo said on Wednesday.

Instead, the figures would be made public only once they had been double-checked and were known to be reliable, he told reporters in Pretoria.

The first statistics on this year's December Arrive Alive campaign should be made available next week, possibly next Wednesday.

Khumalo explained the decision against the background of criticism of the Arrive Alive campaign last year, when it was stated that December road deaths had increased by 25% on the previous year.

That analysis was based on preliminary information, which later turned out to have been wrong, Khumalo said. The increase had in fact been three percent year-on-year.

In any event, research has shown that knowing the statistics did not prompt road users to change their behaviour, he explained.

Provincial traffic departments would themselves be responsible for reporting details of accidents in their areas.

Traffic on the country's roads was expected to increase substantially from the weekend.

Launched special operations

The transport department, Khumalo said, was doing its best to contain road deaths. It has launched special operations and awareness campaigns and has made funds available to pay traffic officials' overtime in a bid to boost visible policing on the roads.

"But even if we do everything we can as a government, until every road users assumes responsibility for their own actions, we will never succeed."

Enforcement alone made little difference, Khumalo said. The average driver's road behaviour improved for only 17 minutes after being pulled over by a traffic official. About 90% of road accidents was the result of driver error.

Arrive Alive aimed to reduce the number of road deaths this festive period by five percent.

Khumalo said at least two road accident victims so far this season had been small children. One was an eight-month-old baby who died when his family's car hit a cow in the Eastern Cape.

The other was a 14-month-old toddler hit by a car while walking unattended on a road in Mpumalanga.

So far, only one accident had been reported in which five or more people were killed, Khumalo said.

The department urged drivers to switch their car lights on both day and night so they were more visible to other road users.

He confirmed media reports that some motorists had been fined for driving with their lights on, but said such fines were invalid. Moves were afoot to ensure every traffic official knew about the campaign, he added.

The department also called on drivers to slow down, not to drink and drive and to fasten their seat belts.

South Africans were encouraged to report road users who ignored the rules of the road. They can be reported on 0861-400-800.

- SAPA