Johannesburg — SA FALLS far outside global best practice in terms of road safety. Its roads are among the deadliest in the world, a new study has shown.

According to the survey, conducted by the transport department, at least 16 fatalities were reported for every 10000 vehicles in SA last year.

The National Road Safety Strategy released last week by the transport department says SA falls far behind France, Germany, the US, the UK, Spain, Sweden and Australia in terms of road deaths. It is ahead of Egypt, Hong Kong, Turkey, Kenya and Korea, which have much higher death rates.

The study says that more than 14000 people die on SA's roads annually, 40000 are seriously injured and 7000 more are permanently disabled. About half of those killed are pedestrians.

Such deaths and injuries cost the economy R43bn annually.

Against the backdrop of these figures, the South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) and the transport department signed a declaration of intent yesterday to promote road-safety awareness among pedestrians and motorists.

"Many of those who are killed are wage earners, leaving families destitute," Transport Minister Jeff Radebe says.

The study says traffic-related fatalities are fast catching up with HIV/AIDS, heart attacks and violence as the leading causes of death in SA.

"In terms of unnatural deaths, traffic-related fatalities fall in the seventh place, after HIV/AIDS, heart and lung disease, homicide and violence and strokes," the report says.

The World Bank estimates that, if nothing effective were to be done, road crashes would be, by 2020, the second-biggest unnatural cause of death in developing countries.

It also estimates the total global economic cost of road crashes to be $500bn a year -- $60bn of it borne by developing countries.

About 750000 people are killed each year in developing countries. Most of these people -- and the 12-million to 23-million people who are injured -- are between the ages of 25 and 40. This age group is one of the most economically productive.

SA's transport department cites the "unacceptably high" level of "lawlessness" on local roads as the main cause of road accidents.

The department says 97% of back-seat passengers do not wear seatbelts, 30% of trucks have at least one tyre that is smooth or damaged, 20% of minibus taxi drivers drive without a valid professional driving permit, and that 4,3% of drivers use their vehicles while under the influence of alcohol.

"These levels must be reduced, which can only be achieved through more effective enforcement."

The report also shows that 17% of drivers exceed the speed limit, 36% of front-seat passengers do not wear seatbelts, and that 3,5% of motorists drive with defective lights.

Motorists also tend to drive very old vehicles. The average age of a minibus taxi in SA is 13 years. Buses and trucks fare only marginally better with an average age of 12 years.

Most sedans on SA's roads are about 10 years old.

Radebe says there were more than 265000 trucks in SA in April this year. More than 28000 of these vehicles were found to be unroadworthy.

"This state of affairs has a negative effect on the road infrastructure and road safety. On average, 13000 people die on our roads every year, (with) 6,56% of these fatalities being as a result of accidents involving trucks," says Radebe.

SA had a total of 7,9-million registered vehicles at the end of December last year, of which 4,6-million were motor cars.

The transport department says the number of registered vehicles increases by about 7% a year.

According to the study, most fatal crashes per 100000km happened in Eastern Cape, with 593 crashes.

The second-most hazardous province is KwaZulu-Natal, with 523 crashes per 100000km. Gauteng and Western Cape experienced 466 and 328 fatal crashes, respectively.

A relatively safe province is Northern Cape, which reported just 62 crashes per 100000km.

The report attributes the majority (95%) of accidents to "poor driver behaviour and attitude", while road and vehicle conditions contribute only 2% and 3%, respectively.

The transport department says it is in the process of regulating the driving school industry and that a national register of driving schools and driving instructors will soon be finalised. The plan is to eliminate bogus driving schools and their instructors.

Also in the offing is a plan to retrain and retest drivers after serious or repeated violations.

Radebe says his department is also considering a demerit points system that is aimed at clamping down on serial traffic offenders.

Under the demerit system, all provinces would be interlinked through technology and would be able to check on any driver's history.

Repeat offenders could have their licences withdrawn. Roadblocks would also be more frequent.

"What is imperative is for government to make road safety a political priority, to develop a multidisciplinary approach to the problem, and create realistic budgets for road safety and increase investment in demonstrably effective road safety activities," the report says.