Almost 80% of motorists in South Africa say removing unroadworthy vehicles will make roads safer, according to the Automobile Association’s (AA) “Safer Roads in SA” survey.
More than half (58%) of survey respondents believe harsher punishments for all road offenders would reduce fatality statistics.
“There are too many unsafe cars on our roads, and these lead to many crashes, some of them fatal,” stated the AA. “As motorists we need to ensure our vehicles are safe, not only for our use, but for other motorists as well. If we want to improve our road crash statistics, keeping our cars roadworthy is an important step in that direction.”
Survey respondents also want to see more rigorous training for learner drivers (38%), increased public education via road safety campaigns (38%), and safer cars from manufacturers (13%). They also indicate a need for stricter policing, and a need for increased road safety education at school level.
“Road safety education in schools, in our view, is critical to ensuring road safety in the future. Children need to be taught the rules of the road, how to be safer pedestrians and, ultimately, there needs to be a progression in this education to where the child is of driving age,” the AA added.
