Traveller SPRING 2022

Opinion
Road safety is off
track in South Africa
Image: supplied
BY LAYTON BEARD, HEAD: PR, ADVOCACY & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, AA SOUTH AFRICA
I
recently spoke at the Southern African
physical disabilities for the rest of their lives,
Transport Conference, an annual event that should be enough reason for us to seriously
deals with issues related road infrastructure, reconsider our approach to road safety and road
traffic management, and road safety. Experts safety education and awareness.
and academics from across the region are
And I’m not talking about the road safety
invited to speak at this forum, which provides a initiatives the AA thinks should be implemented.
good snapshot of the current and future road I’m saying the very issue of road safety as a
situation in our country and the greater southern concept doesn’t garner near enough attention. For
African region.
instance, we have limited road safety awareness
I spoke at the session on the Decade of Action campaigns during specific festive periods in our
for Road Safety and specifically addressed the country. Why then only? Why are these campaigns
issue of vehicle safety, highlighting, amongst not ubiquitous every day of the year? And what
others, the AA’s involvement in the crash
about road safety education in schools?
testing of locally available vehicles through the Countries where road safety education and
#SaferCarsForAfrica programme. The Decade of awareness are taken seriously have shown
Action is an international campaign seeking to marked decreases in road crashes and fatalities
halve the number of road deaths on the world’s and concomitant benefits to the economy. In
roads by 2030. Given South Africa’s dire road an economy as fragile as ours, each cent saved
safety situation, it’s an important campaign and through improved road safety is a cent earned for
one our government has committed to.
the general economy.
I mention all of this because the patron of
So, it’s a little disheartening that the patron
the conference is the Minister of Transport, Mr of a conference dealing with road safety fails to
Fikile Mbalula, who was scheduled to deliver the make an appearance, whatever the reason quite
opening address at the session. His involvement, frankly. It sends a message that the conference,
and indeed that of his department, is naturally and the important themes it is addressing, are
critical to achieving road safety targets through not worthy of his time. It sends a message that the
the provision of regulations, infrastructure, and academics and experts, and the representatives
personnel. Sadly, Mr Mbalula did not make the of the many NGO’s and interest groups who in
event and did not deliver his opening address fact did attend, are on their own. It sends the
(even though, I would imagine, plans could have message that the excellent work done by private
been made for him to do so virtually).
individuals to improve road safety for the public is
Road safety is a serious topic and deserves not recognised nor appreciated.
way more attention in our society than what it Yes, there were representatives from the
currently gets. I’m not using the privilege of the RTMC who attended the conference, and their
space I have here to rant about this. I’m merely contributions are still invaluable. But when the
pointing out that the economic benefits of
political head of the department responsible for
improved road safety are to everyone’s advantage. transport (and by extension road safety) doesn’t
Yet too little is being done to actually make this make an appearance at a conference such as this
improvement. In 2015, for instance, the Road (where he is the patron) questions must be raised.
Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC)
Our country faces many challenges and road
estimated that vehicle crashes in South Africa safety is one of them. Don’t think that because it’s
cost the economy around R145 billion (yes, with a topic not spoken about as often as increased fuel
a ‘b’) annually. Extrapolated and accounting for prices or the energy crisis, it’s not important. It
inflation, this figure is closer to R200 billion in may not have the same impact as rolling blackouts,
2022, a huge chunk of money that could be better but it’s nonetheless something that should get
spent in other areas of our society.
more focus. Our country simply can’t afford not to.
Not only that, the loss of life, and the daily
difficulties of those who must live with severe Layton
Follow Layton on
Twitter @LaytonBeard
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SPRING 2022 | AA Traveller