DEAD BODIES DON'T LIE - MORTUARY STATS SHOW ROAD DEATHS HIGH AS EVER IN GAUTENG

3961 bodies of road accident victims ended up last year in Gauteng state mortuaries, up from 3784 bodies in 2006. 

These figures are disclosed in a written reply to my questions by the Gauteng Health Department.

It shows that road deaths in Gauteng are as bad as ever despite claims of success made by provincial government politicians..

For instance, former Gauteng Community Safety MEC Khabisi  Mosunkutu claimed in June this year that "Consistent and focused implementation of our Gauteng Road Safety Strategy since 2006 has already yielded a 34% reduction in road accidents and fatalities in our province."

The error appears to come from inconsistent and inaccurate figures by the Road Traffic Management Corporation.

Gross financial mismanagement has been revealed in the RMTC, and they don't seem to keep accurate road accident statistics either.

The RMTC figures for Gauteng road fatalities are 3456 for 2006 and 2485 in 2009.

These clearly underestimate the true figure, which is probably a bit higher than the mortuary figures as some victims would have died in hospital and been buried straight thereafter.

Figures from mortuaries across the country show about 18 000 road deaths a year, which is a lot more than the official figure of about 14 000 deaths.

My view is that dead bodies don't lie, so we should be very alarmed that we are not making real progress in bringing down the carnage on our roads.

We need accurate statistics on road deaths published regularly, and must sort out the justified concerns about the implementation of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) demerit system that has worked well overseas.

This would prevent much misery, including less pressure in over-worked hospital casualty departments.

Statement by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, November 17 2010

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