Pretoria - Despite rigorous steps to combat lawlessness on the roads, the road death toll on South African roads is still a huge concern, says the Transport Department.
It comes as statistics, released on Wednesday, showed a slight decrease in the number of people who died on the country's roads from the beginning of December 2010, compared to the same period last year. Authorities recorded 860 deaths from the beginning of the month to 21 December, an improvement of 124 compared to last year's 984 fatalities for the same period. But, the number still remains too high.
"While law enforcement agencies around the country are doing their best to combat lawlessness on the road, we know they cannot be omni-present and therefore appeal to road users, especially motorists and pedestrians to exercise caution and use the roads responsibly and avoid the unnecessary loss of lives that we are experiencing during this festive season," said spokesperson Logan Maistry.
He said several speedsters were caught travelling at excessively high speeds, ignorant of the fact that in the event they are involved in a crash with a high occupancy vehicle, the result would certainly be multiple deaths. Many crashes followed disobedience of road traffic rules.
Road user tips:
* Assume that pedestrians or other drivers are going to be careless and make mistakes. Think of what they might do. Be ready for their mistakes.
* Expect children to dash out from behind parked vehicles often followed by other children. Expect occupants in parked vehicles to open doors into oncoming traffic. Watch for movement in parked vehicles - someone may be about to open a door.
* Expect other drivers to run stop signs when you are on a "through" street. Be ready to brake if necessary as you go through intersections.
* Pedestrians can be careless. Watch out for them. In general, you must give way to pedestrians even if you know you have the right of way.
* Rear-end collisions are about the most preventable of crashes. Yet they are common. Allowing enough following distance is the best defensive driving manoeuvre, in both city and rural driving. You never know when the vehicle in front of you is going to brake or turn suddenly. Always keep a three-four second gap between you and the car in front and do not turn in front of oncoming traffic.
* Defensive driving requires that a driver concentrate on the driving task. Anything that distracts from the driving task such as using a cellular phone, reading, or reaching for something on the floor makes proper defensive driving more difficult and can even cause a collision, with resulting injury. Ask a passenger to help do things like this, or pull off the road in a safe place to do them yourself. These simple defensive driving techniques could save your life.
* Take a break. Tiredness is thought to be a major factor in road accidents. Plan to stop for at least a 15 minute break every 2 hours on a long journey.
