Under-reporting of road deaths under the spotlight

Imogen Vollenhoven
19 February 2013

The Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works today said the recent suggestions of under-reporting of road deaths in the country by the Department and RTMC have came under the spotlight. 

MEC of Transport and Public Works Robin Carlisle said for many years he has warned against this form of reporting by the RTMC which is in fact an inaccurate representation of the deaths on our roads. 

Ministerial Spokesperson Sipheshile Dube said that the departments’ road safety efforts through safely home are driven by the factual analysis based on road death figures which the department receives from the forensic pathology services based at the provincial department of health.

 Dube adds that these statistics are sourced from 18 mortuaries across the province and are reliable, informative and accurate and this is the system that the department has been utilising since 2008.

Dube furthermore said that through this system and through this kind of information that the department has gathered from this system the Western Cape has been able to reduce the road deaths by 29% since 2008.

Dube adds the reduction is unmatched to any where else in the country, let alone probably even the rest of the world.