South Africa's policymakers map out plan to improve road safety
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Version 0 of 1. South Africa has some of the most dangerous roads in the world. For every 100,000 South African inhabitants, almost 32 die in accidents related to driving, according to the World Health Organisation's latest figures. The rate compares to around 11.4 people in the United States and 3.7 in the UK. South Africa's accident rate carries an economic cost too, with the bill for loss of labour, medical services and emergency services reaching an estimated R306bn (£18.5bn) per year. Over the last two years, South African policymakers have stepped up efforts to make the country's road safer. Public education lies at the heart of its efforts, which are structured around the Decade of Action for Road Safety, a United Nations-backed initiative endorsed by around 100 countries worldwide. In December last year, for example, the South African government launched a nationwide advertising campaign to promote safe driving techniques. The Get There, No Regrets initiative continues to operate through a web portal and across social media. The centrepiece of the government's education strategy, which is overseen by the Department of Transport and the Road Traffic Management Corporation, is the Scholar Patrol programme. Run in association with the Department of Basic Education, the scheme sees local volunteers escort more than 4 million children safely to school every day. The government's strategy also focuses on citizen engagement. As part of its Participatory Education Technique Programme, for example, local residents are invited to suggest enforcement, engineering and educational interventions to make recognised accident hotspots safer. In a similar vein, the government has sought to establish a community-driven, consultative approach under the aegis of the National Road Safety Council. Working with government agencies, small businesses and community groups at a municipal level, citizens are encouraged to report accidents, identify the causal factors behind traffic incidents and generally "take ownership" of local road safety. Road accidents in South Africa remain persistently high, with around 40 fatalities recorded every day. Government officials say public education is a long-term game given its primary focus is on young people. The government has earmarked R8.7bn to repair the country's ailing road infrastructure, but this too will take time. An immediate problem that South Africa's authorities are struggling to fix, however, is the level of lawlessness on the country's roads. New research published by Gumtree finds that fewer than one in seven (15%) of South African drivers hold valid driver's licences. Of the 15m or so vehicles on the road, an estimated 776,206 are either unlicensed, unroadworthy or both. "Law enforcement is a challenging responsibility to discharge due to several attendant factors such as capacity constraints and corruption, among others", Dipuo Peters, the minister of transport, said at the country's first ever national road safety summit in early October. Improving traffic policing is clearly something that needs to be tackled. South Africa has around 17,000 police officers to watch over the country's 11m drivers and 466,000 mile road network. Road safety campaigners would like to see these numbers increased, especially in rural areas. The campaigners are also calling for round-the-clock enforcement too. At present, only Eastern Cape province has 24-hour traffic policing. "We need 24/7 traffic enforcement in every province", says Raushana Arnold, the co-ordinator of the South African chapter of the Global Road Safety Partnership. Ideally, she adds, an extra police presence would be provided at peak accident periods over the weekend. An improvement in the quality, not just quantity, of traffic police is required as well. Jeffrey Osborne, Gumtree's spokesman, would like to see a strict code of conduct for traffic police. "One of the contributing factors that has created a lawless driving culture in this country is a lack of respect for law enforcement officers who continue to engage in corruptive practices", he said. Such a code would see traffic law applied transparently and consistently, with zero tolerance for corrupt law officers. Corruption pervades the whole of South Africa's driving system, not just its traffic police. In search of a solution, the government has set up the National Traffic Anti-Corruption Unit. Established last year, the division works with local and provincial traffic authorities to unearth corrupt activities, such as the counterfeiting of driving licences and bribery in testing schools. The unit's impact is beginning to bite as word starts to spread, says the RTMC. More could be done, of course. Tougher scrutiny of test centres would mark a significant step forward, traffic experts argue. One advocate is Howard Dembousky, national chairman of the non-profit group Justice Project South Africa. He cites the example of his 20-year-old son, who failed his proficiency test eight times. Dembousky says his son's repeated failures were the result of his refusal to pay a bribe. "It's not difficult to understand why someone would say, 'I'll pay R3,500 [as a bribe]', rather than go through endless tests and lessons", he says. Allowing witnesses to accompany test drivers would help counteract this level of bad practice, Dembousky argues. So too would simplifying test requirements. The inclusion of "stupid provisions", such as reversing the smallest fraction on a hill start, means it is easy for testing agents to fail on technicalities those who decline to pay a bribe. Industry regulation for driving instructors could also have a major impact on driving standards, experts say. At present, only about 4% of driving instructors are officially qualified, according to Pat Allen, national president of the Southern African Institute of Driving Instructors. Many teach students in vehicles that are unroadworthy and uninsured, she adds: "Those of us who have gone through the expense of qualifying, buying good cars and doing everything the way we should, are struggling for survival because the illegal instructors are undercutting us." The government is currently consulting on an amendment to the 1998 Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act that would see greater formalisation of the driving school sector as well as tougher requirements for driving instructors. A vote on the amendment is expected next year. <strong>This content is brought to you by </strong><strong>Guardian Professional</strong><strong>. 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