While road fatalities in 2019 declined by three percent on those of 2018, the total number of deaths on South African roads is still far too high.
That is according to the Automobile Association (AA) who released statistics on road fatalities for the past 13 years.
A particular concern for the AA is the fact that 40% of all fatalities are pedestrians, more or less the same percentage as in the previous ten years.
This indicates that not enough is being done to provide adequate resources to those walking on roads and that not enough is being done in terms of road safety education of both drivers and pedestrians.
According to AA stats, 146 252 people were killed on SA roads in the last decade,(2009-2019), 53 397 were pedestrians and 1 575 were cyclists.
The AA says more needs to be done by the government.
Some interventions suggested by the AA include:
Urgently reviewing and revising safety regulations for new vehicles in SA
Introducing two airbags as minimum safety standards on new vehicles
Festive season policing all year long
Drink driving weekend blitzes
Better policing of child restraint usage, illegal device usage while driving, and speeding
Re-introducing road safety education and driver training in schools
Introducing a 30 km/h speed limit in areas near schools
