When Covid-19 finally hits the road, deadly traffic safety issues will remain
Vehicle accidents in SA cause almost 32 fatalities per 1,000 and cost the country an average of R163bn annually, according to the WHO
Discussion is heating up on how to take the country out of lockdown in phases that balance the need to counter the spread of Covid-19 with restarting the economy to prevent a national catastrophe. There will have to be trade-offs, but one area where we now know lives can definitely be saved is in road safety, which remains an ever-present threat to health services and the economy.
The return to normal times will mean a return to many other dangers from which the lockdown have shielded the country. These include murders, robberies and alcohol-related crime, but especially traffic accidents, which cost SA an average of R163bn annually, together with almost 32 fatalities per 1,000 people in 2018, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Many of the dead are children...
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