South African drivers are statistically the worst in the world, with extremely high rates of reckless and drunk driving.
This is according to Zutobi’s The World’s Safest and Most Dangerous Roads report, which highlighted the risks involved with driving on South African tarmac.
“South Africa is the world’s most dangerous country to drive, according to the factors that we analyzed,” it said.
“There are an estimated 24.5 road traffic deaths per 100,000 of the population.”
A list you don’t want to be at the top of
South Africa was ranked as the most dangerous country on the list, followed by Thailand and the United States.
On the other side of the spectrum, Norway was listed as the safest nation for road users alongside Iceland and Japan in second and third place, respectively.
Interestingly, the report notes that South Africa’s national speed limit of 120km/h isn’t much higher than Norway’s, which is 110km/h.
Speed is often cited as one of the biggest contributors to road accidents, which may or may not be true, but this is far from the only factor leading to South Africa’s terrible statistics.
Seatbelt use, for example, was flagged as a major area of concern, as it is estimated that only 31% of front-seat passengers buckle up here, compared to 97.8% in Norway.
Lucky Molaudzi, general manager for Road Safety Partnership South Africa, recently spoke on 702 to share further insights into the country’s safety problems.
“We are at risk. Actually, we’re in trouble. We’ve got an average of about 12,000 people dying on the roads every year, and in last year’s festive season, we lost about 1,000 people,” he said.
Both Molaudzi and the report highlighted drunk driving as a major area of concern, with the latter pointing out that South Africa has the highest amount of alcohol-related road traffic deaths, at 57.5%.
Molaudzi believes that this worryingly high figure is partly the result of the lack of extensive, safe, and affordable public transport, which forces citizens to use their own cars even when they shouldn’t.
He added that roughly 90% of accidents on our roads are caused by human behaviour that should be preventable if citizens were more responsible.
Drunk driving is a prime example of this, as it involves a person choosing to drive when they know they should be calling an Uber, taxi, or friend to come pick them up.
Unfortunately, this lack of personal responsibility ties into a larger problem in South Africa concerning fake licences.
According to Driving.co.za managing director Rob Handfield-Jones, road fatality rates have significantly increased in the country since 1998.
He attributed this phenomenon to a substantial uptick in motorists buying their licences – a practice made possible by corrupt officials – which means a considerable number of road users lack fundamental driving principles.
“No other factors can explain the abrupt doubling of fatality rates from 1998 to 2006 after they had declined in a straight line from 1985 onwards,” he said.
Handfield-Jones also stated that this is one of the primary reasons why Driving.co.za shifted entirely to online training, as there is a growing concern that an instructor may be killed or injured during a training session with a bought-licence driver.
“We are talking about people who cannot brake or steer properly, literally the equivalent of a learner with 3–4 hours of instruction under their belts,” he said.
“It is impossible they could have passed a properly-administered government driving test. But they have a valid driving licence card, properly registered on e-Natis.”
Handfield-Jones estimates that illegal licences have resulted in over 300,000 road deaths in South Africa over the past 25 years.
Loading ...
