‘Heavy vehicle drivers not always at fault’

THE RFA’s Gavin Kelly agrees that the reality in
SA is that there is no fitting action taken after
accidents have occurred (irrespective of vehicle
class), but he believes far more media coverage
is given to heavy vehicle crashes.
“This gives rise to the perception that
heavy vehicles – trucks – cause crashes, which
is not true.
“To give the example of a truck killing
people and the resultant action taken against
the driver increases the perception that heavy
vehicles are the problem. We need to address
the situation in SA where it happens – and the
majority of fatalities are not caused through
truck crashes. There are far more pedestrian
fatalities caused by light motor vehicles.”
Any crash involving a fatality involves
opening a case of culpable homicide. There is,
however, no crash investigation done (from a
central authority) unless five or more vehicles
are involved or five or more people are killed
at the same incident. Individual incidents are
investigated by the local SAPS.
What needs to happen (irrespective of
class of vehicle), in Kelly's view, is that the
authorities need to clearly and soundly
identify when, where and why crashes occur.
Then the respective action needs to be
taken to address these causes and not the
symptoms (for example the focus on speed).