The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has called on South African road users to make this Easter period a fatality free by driving cautiously and being vigilant at all the time while travelling to various destinations.
This as traffic on the country’s major routes has surged significantly from Thursday morning, as motorists drive to their Easter weekend destinations in their multitudes.
Historically, the country records an increased number of road crashes and fatalities during periods such as this, as a high volume of cars, buses and trucks take to the roads in almost all at the same time.
Speaking on YouFM Newshour, the RAF’ Senior Manager for Road Safety Siphamandla Gumbi said that road fatalities and trauma result in devastating emotional, social and economic costs to the victims, their families and the country.
“Easter 2024 recorded the highest weekend fatalities since 2019 with 335 deaths.
This was a sharp increase from 252 deaths in 2023.
Human error, vehicle failure, and environmental factors all significantly contributed to the 1 325 fatalities recorded from 2019 to 2024 Easter weekend car crashes.
Major human factor contributors are speeding, jaywalking, and hit-and-run,” said Gumbi.
Furthermore, Gumbi said that vehicle related factors that result in the highest accidents are mostly tyre bursts, brake failures, and smooth tyres.
“Environmental factors such as poor visibility, sharp bends, stray animals, and road surface defects also jeopardise peoples’ road safety and require caution,” explained Gumbi.
The fund said that as much as its primary mandate is to compensate the victims of the road accidents, it also has the responsibility to encourage road safety and adherence to the rules of the road.
“In the 2023-2024 financial year, the RAF settled claims to the value of R45.6 billion.
The amount included R47 million for funeral claims, R21.6 billion for loss of earnings, R12.7 billion for general damages, R2.6 billion for loss of support, and R1.7 billion for medical compensation.
These are the fund’s product benefits that qualifying road accident victims can claim for from the fund,” remarked Gumbi.
He said if there were no accidents, the money could have been used for other social services that the country provides such as health, education, etc.
“But unfortunately, this money ends up being used to pay victims of road accidents which could have been avoided,” said Gumbi.
