Joburg road safety summit seeks to fix SA’s road carnage

Summit comes two weeks before the start of the holiday season with heightened traffic volumes and accident rates

A road safety summit in Johannesburg on November 26-27 has brought together experts hoping to find solutions to South Africa’s road carnage crisis.

The summit is hosted by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) in partnership with Uber and comes two weeks before the start of the holiday season which sees heightened traffic volumes and accident rates.

“With the goal of halving serious injuries and fatalities by 2030, this gathering will be a continuation of 2023 discussions and will serve as a platform to reflect on our progress, identify gaps and chart a path forward to a safer road environment for all South Africans,” said the RTMC.

South Africa has set a target of reducing road fatalities by 50% from 13,967 recorded in 2010, according to the National Road Safety Strategy 2016 to 2030 (NRSS).

The RTMC said the country had made significant strides, pointing to a 15% reduction to 11,883 fatalities in 2023 — though it was lower than the target of an 18% reduction to 11,500 fatalities.

Only 10 countries achieved a 50% reduction in road fatalities. Reductions of 40%-49% were observed in 15 countries, 30%-39% in 20 countries, 20%-29% in 33 countries and 10%-19% in 19 countries, according to the World Health Organisation. During this period, reductions larger than 2% were observed in 108 countries.

“With only six years remaining until 2030 there is still much work to be done. The department of transport has initiated a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder evaluation of the NRSS to assess our achievements and identify areas for improvement,” said the RTMC.

The department said nearly 90% of road fatalities can be attributed to road user behaviour, with employed youth carrying the heaviest burden of road crashes, injuries and fatalities. The Road Accident Fund (RAF) said 43% of road user fatalities in South Africa are pedestrians, while motorists in the 25-39 year age bracket account for 41.4% of road fatalities.

This week’s road safety summit is part of fostering greater collaboration between civil society, business and the public sector to improve road safety.

The corporation said key challenges persist in strengthening collaboration across public, private and civil society sectors; improving enforcement of road traffic regulations, particularly regarding seat belt use and drink driving; expanding the availability of provincial road traffic law enforcement at night and at weekends; reducing speed in high-risk areas, especially where vehicle and pedestrian conflicts occur; and advancing vehicle safety standards and regulations.

Another challenge was addressing infrastructure maintenance, such as potholed roads and the many busy intersections that have non-operating or dysfunctional traffic lights.

The RTMC aims to develop actionable plans that can be implemented within the next 12 months.