As the world’s roads get busier on a daily basis because its population and the number of vehicles increase continuously road safety has become ever more challenging and difficult. One of the unfortunate results of this development is the increasing number of accidents and the fatalities and serious injuries which stem from them. The global statistics are frightening and startling. In addition, billions of dollars in properties are lost. These are the measurable losses, but the emotional and psychological trauma, scars and suffering of the loved ones of victims cannot be measured.
Road crashes are the second leading cause of deaths globally among young people aged 5 to 29 and the third leading cause of deaths for people aged 30 to 44 years. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the highest rates of road traffic crashes occur among road users aged between 0 to 25 year range in the African and the Eastern Mediterranean regions.
More than 1.2 million people are killed every year and over 100 000 are injured on roads worldwide everyday. Almost 400 000 young people under the age of 25 years are killed in road traffic crashes – about 1049 youngsters everyday.
Road accidents disable as many as 50 million more per annum globally and the economic impact is significant in low and middle-income countries. The annual cost of road traffic crashes in the middle and low income is estimated at US$65 billion – more than the total annual amount received in development aid. Road traffic crashes and their consequences cost governments about 2% of their Gross National Product. (Source: WHO)
According to the United nations World Report”, traffic accidents were well on their way to becoming the third leading cause of global death and disability by the year 2020 -– ahead of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Thousands of people a day were killed in traffic accidents –- more than a million in the year 2000, with over 10 million injured, the vast majority of them in developing countries.  The worldwide economic costs of those casualties had been estimated at $518 billion a year –- $100 billion of it accrued by low- and middle-income countries.
The Report also acknowledged the limitations of developing countries and countries with economies in transition had limited capacities to address road safety and underlined the importance of providing further support for their efforts.
Our country with a small population has a disproportionate number of traffic accidents and fatalities which in recent years have been increasing. This is so because with the growth of the economy the living standards and income of many people increase, hence the acquiring of vehicles rise. At the same as the UN Report acknowledged developing countries like ours find it difficult to provide an adequate number and quality of roads to cope with this rapid and sharp rise in vehicles, hence our roads become congested.
But the other aspect of the problem is the attitude of drivers and their ability to drive. It is no secret that many persons acquire their licences through the illegal route by bribing corrupt police officers. There are many persons who are in possession of a Driver’s Licence but have never driven a vehicle.
The lawlessness by some drivers on our roadways leaves one to wonder whether there should have been more accidents.
This latter aspect of the traffic problems is more serious than the former and should be tackled with expediency because if we do not nip the problem in the bud it will grow into an uncontrollable monster, like what has happened with the littering problem.
One of the strange occurrences is that some policemen literally harass drivers for minor traffic offences but on the other hand the extremely serious offences are ignored. Of course the law has to be obeyed but sometimes discretion could be used. For instance, someone may be driving and his brakes lights may stop working but he/she would be unaware until someone points it out or he/she eventually finds out. In such a circumstance and similar ones discretion should be used. On the other hand there should be no compromise with serious offences such as dangerous driving or exceeding the legal limit of alcohol, speeding etc because these are the offences which lead to accidents which result in the loss of life and death.
The situation with road safety in our country is definitely not a healthy one and a determined and collective national effort inevitably has to be employed to remedy it. Only last Sunday a 19-year old senselessly lost his life at Meten-Meer-Zorg while his friend is hospitalised with life threatening injuries. The madness on the roads has to be stopped.