Another year, another chance for us all to remember our road crash dead and injured. Mention is often made of 14, 000 people dying on South Africa’s roads annually as well as the R306 billion cost of crashes per year to the country. But what of the social loss to families and friends? One cannot calculate that. As we observe this year’s World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDR) on Sunday 20 November 2016)[1], we should keep this in mind; reflect on our progress in meeting the target of the Decade of Action for road safety goal of halving fatalities by 2020 and ask ourselves some difficult questions. Continue reading “A call to reflect on our progress as we observe the World Day of Remembrance”
Author: Patrick Muchaka
Patrick Muchaka is a Cape Town-based transport researcher
Get children to (and from) school safely
Schools will open across South Africa for the last term of 2016 soon. Regardless of how your children travel to and from school (whether they walk, cycle, take the bus, or if you drive them to school); being safe on the road is imperative and we share some tips with parents. While the list of tips is not exhaustive, we believe it provides a good starting point to ensure the safety of children during the school commute. Continue reading “Get children to (and from) school safely”
Saving children from road traffic trauma not an impossible endeavour
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) figures, 500 children are killed each day in road crashes globally. It is therefore not surprising that road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among 15–19 year-olds and the second leading cause among 5–14 year-olds)[1]. Millions more children are injured each year and require hospital care for non-fatal injuries as a result of road traffic crashes. These are compelling figures which should give us all a clear and unequivocal mandate to take action aimed at reducing the vulnerability of our children to the carnage currently obtaining on our roads. While children are at risk in vehicles, on bicycles and motorcycles, available data indicate that child pedestrians are one of the most vulnerable road user groups. Continue reading “Saving children from road traffic trauma not an impossible endeavour”