Durban — A recent study by an Australian insurance company, Compare The Market, claims South Africans are among the worst drivers in the world.
This study used statistics by The World Bank to compare fatal accident rates across different countries and genders.
South Africa has the highest fatal road accident rate overall across both genders, while the country with the lowest road mortality rate is the UK. According to Compare The Market, South Africa reported just under 45 fatal accidents per 100 000 people.
However, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has rubbished the findings. RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane disputed the number, saying that according to the 2022 Road Safety Report, the rate of road fatalities in South Africa was 20 per 100 000 people.
“Even though the population is going up, our rate of fatalities per 100 000 is going down,” he said.
The study also found that South Africa has the largest gender gap in the number of fatal accidents – males at 34.9 per 100 000 people, and females 9.9 per 100 000 people.
In another report put together by Discovery Insure called The Road to a Healthier South Africa, it was revealed that speeding is often the major precursor to a serious accident. In it the company took 12 months of driver behaviour from its customers’ on-board telematics and was able to come up with the following conclusions:
* KwaZulu-Natal drivers are the worst when it comes to harsh driving style, followed by Gautengers. The Free State ranks best, with the least erratic driving.
* Averaging the two metrics out, KwaZulu-Natal (first in harsh driving and second in speeding) is the province with South Africa’s worst drivers. Followed by the Eastern Cape, then Gauteng and the Free State are tied. And finally drivers in the Western Cape are the best behaved.
Zwane added: “But we still need to do more work to bring these fatalities down to the levels that we committed to as a country with the World Health Organization – we said we need to reduce fatalities by 50% by 2030. So we still need more work to ensure that they come down more so that we can achieve that target.”
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995.
Daily News