{"id":94547,"date":"2025-01-23T17:27:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T15:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=94547"},"modified":"2025-01-23T17:27:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T15:27:22","slug":"road-fatalities-soar-over-festive-season-urgent-action-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/road-fatalities-soar-over-festive-season-urgent-action-needed\/","title":{"rendered":"Road Fatalities Soar Over Festive Season: Urgent Action Needed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n3-minute read
\n23 January 2025 | 14:45 CAT<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

South Africa’s roads claim over 1,500 lives this festive season\u2014urgent action needed to curb the alarming rise in fatalities.<\/p><\/div>\n

The festive season brought grim news for South African road users as vehicle fatalities surged to alarming levels, exposing deep-rooted issues in the country’s transport infrastructure and road safety measures. The Automobile Association (AA) has called for urgent interventions to address the crisis.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Radio Islam International,<\/a> Eleanor Mavimbela, spokesperson for the AA, revealed a 5% increase in road fatalities compared to the previous year. \u201cSeventy more people lost their lives on our roads this festive season than last year,\u201d Mavimbela stated, emphasizing the staggering total of 1,502 deaths over just six weeks.<\/p>\n

The UN\u2019s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to halve road deaths and serious injuries globally by 2030. However, South Africa\u2019s current trajectory is moving in the opposite direction. \u201cWe are nowhere near meeting the goal. Instead of reducing fatalities, the numbers are increasing,\u201d said Mavimbela. She highlighted that other countries record significantly lower death tolls during similar periods, with South Africa\u2019s figures far exceeding 300 fatalities seen in comparable nations.<\/p>\n

Efforts by the government, including seasonal road safety campaigns, have proven insufficient. Mavimbela criticized the short-term nature of these programs, calling for consistent, year-round road safety awareness. \u201cIt should not be something that happens just before the festive or holiday season. It needs to remain top of mind,\u201d she urged.<\/p>\n

The AA also stressed the need for improved road infrastructure and stricter vehicle roadworthiness regulations. The association has proposed mandatory annual roadworthiness checks for vehicles during license renewals. \u201cMechanical failures contribute significantly to road fatalities. Ensuring vehicles are fit for purpose could save lives,\u201d said Mavimbela.<\/p>\n

With time running out to achieve the UN’s SDGs, the AA insists the government must declare the rising road fatalities a national crisis and adopt more effective mobility solutions. \u201cIt\u2019s high time we go back to the drawing board,\u201d Mavimbela concluded.<\/p>\n

The call for action is clear: South Africa must intensify its efforts to save lives on its roads.<\/p>\n

listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yususf Moosagoie and Eleanor Mavimbela, spokesperson for the AA, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 23 January 2025 | 14:45 CAT The festive season brought grim news for South African road users as vehicle fatalities surged to alarming levels, exposing deep-rooted issues in the country’s transport infrastructure and road safety measures. The Automobile Association (AA) has called for urgent interventions to address the crisis. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":94548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/a437de8a-2018-04-24-drivers-law-enforcement-and-pedestrians-urged-to-do-more-to-combat-road-fatalities-image-696x392-1.jpg?fit=696%2C392&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-oAX","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 01:30:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}