Urban speed limits in South Africa are too high when measured against international equivalents, necessitating a wholesale “go-slower” approach, including the consideration of speed restrictions for the road freight industry.
That’s according to a recent study conducted by the World Health Organisation.
During the recent festive season period, South Africa recorded 1427 fatalities, of which 41% were pedestrians.
Said Dr Lee Randall, Independent Road Safety Researcher and Co-Founder of the Road Ethics Project: “These observations about our urban speed limits are by the WHO gave us a big red mark in its latest Global Status Report released in December.
Another contributing factor to pedestrian deaths is the design of new vehicles, including trucks, coming onto the market.
She said the rapid popularity of the sport utility vehicle was a case in point.
“I call them mobile battering rams.
“If you look at the front of some of the latest model SUVs, it is like a wall, like a battering ram.
“A driver cannot see a child over the bonnet, which is horizontal rather than sloped. And the vehicle is heavy.”
She said the kinds of vehicles we are starting to lean towards, like many high-income countries did and are now pulling back from, are particularly lethal for pedestrians.
The WHO also criticised South Africa for its lack of strategies to educate its population about personal safety when you are a pedestrian.
Last year, in the run-up to the end-of-year holidays, several conferences on road safety, hosted and supported by the likes of Uber, Absa and Michelin, showed that the country’s transport system was under pressure.
The increasing demand for long-distance road freight and the accelerating nature of store-to-front door e-commerce deliveries exacerbated deteriorating safety conditions on the country’s roads, it was found.
