BAD DRIVING, AND NOT POTHOLES, CAUSES ROAD DEATHS
 

A survey has confirmed South African drivers are the world's worst. The results of an international study conducted in 10 countries last year was presented to the Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion in Durban recently, and South Africa ranked highest for "aggressive and/or threatening behaviour".

According to the research there are at least 18 000 road deaths in our country each year - twice the number of deaths per 100 000 cars than the world average.

These research results have merely confirmed what we at the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport have always been saying, and therefore we prefer to use the term "road crash" instead of "road accident". Basically we are killing ourselves on the roads through bad driving, bad road behaviour and poorly maintained vehicles.

THE RESEARCH DID NOT FIND THAT POTHOLES WAS A MAJOR CONTRIBUTORY FACTOR TO ROAD CRASHES.

The decline in maintenance expenditure on national and provincial roads in South Africa started in the 1970's and KwaZulu-Natal was no exception. The true extent of neglect in rural areas only became evident after the abolition of the self-governing territory of KwaZulu and the full integration of KZN during 1994. Fortunately, through the intervention of the new government this negative funding trend is being reversed.

After 1994 the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport inherited roads from a number of road authorities in the province, the bulk of which was the 14 700 kilometre network of well-documented provincial roads. Information on the other roads was somewhat less well defined. The challenge facing the Department of Transport was to remedy the road network inequalities that arose out of an old government policy of separate development, while at the same time maintaining the primary road network at an appropriate level.

The Department of Transport adopted a data-driven approach to developing and managing the provincial road network. Some of the notable achievements over the past few years include:

  • In 1996 the 'Community Access Roads Needs Study' established and entrenched a consultative forum and identified important community access roads that qualified for inclusion in the provincial road network. 11 400 kilometres of roads were documented and this was a first attempt at quantifying the rural accessibility backlog. 30 democratically elected Rural Road Transport Forums were set up across the province to inform the Department of Transport of road upgrading needs and priorities.
     
  • In 1998 the 'Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative' was presented at the national Job Summit and this raised the awareness of roads as a preferred option for social and economic development.
     
  • In 1999 the 'Road Needs Assessment Study' highlighted the imbalance in the provincial road network and quantified the financial requirements for achieving a minimal equity network. Criteria for classifying roads on a more equitable basis were reviewed and a large number of community access roads and agricultural roads were found to meet the necessary criteria for classification as either district or local roads. This was seen as the first step in moving towards a cost effective and balanced road network for the province.
     
  • In 2001 the 'African Renaissance Roads Upgrading Programme' (ARRUP) was launched with the primary objective of addressing the backlog in the construction of blacktop roads. The Department identified strategic transportation corridors that provided access to rural areas with high development potential and is upgrading these gravel roads to blacktop standard.
     
  • Also in 2001 the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Roads Act (Act 4 of 2001) was enacted. The Act recognised that the provincial road network and the classification of roads was a reflection of past priorities and was neither equitable nor just. The Act provides the legal framework for declaring a new provincial road network.

The Department has committed itself to the provision of a balanced road network that is both equitable, sustainable and will maximize social and economic development. The importance placed on the provision of a safe, equitable and balanced road network can be best illustrated by the fact that 76% of the department's budget is set aside for this function.

This budget aims to strike a balance between the construction of roads to provide access roads and corridors for the areas previously disadvantaged by the policy of separate development and the need to maintain the existing road network to an acceptable standard.

back