Children under 14 account for 13% of road deaths; RTMC calls for stronger safety measures

Children under the age of 14 account for 13.46% of road fatalities in South Africa, highlighting the urgent need for safer roads and stronger measures to protect child pedestrians.

Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of pedestrian deaths in the country, spokesperson for the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) Simon Zwane told TimesLIVE on Monday.

He said a combination of unsafe road environments, reckless driving and poor road safety awareness continues to put children at risk.

“The figures demonstrate that children remain one of the most vulnerable groups on South African roads. They are particularly at risk when walking to and from school, crossing busy roads or playing in areas close to traffic,” he said.

Several factors contributed to child pedestrian deaths.

“The lack of safe places for children to play, poor road safety awareness and dangerous driving behaviour are some of the factors,” Zwane said.

He said many children lived in communities where there were no safe playgrounds, forcing them to play near roads.

“At the same time, road safety awareness among both children and adults remains inadequate, while reckless driver behaviour continues to put young pedestrians at risk.

“Better infrastructure, including sidewalks, clearly marked pedestrian crossings and traffic calming measures, could help reduce child pedestrian fatalities,” he said.

Speaking at the Wheel Well’s Halo Beanie Handover Project on Friday, one of the parents, Elizabeth Jacobs, said traffic was one of her biggest worries whenever her child left home.

She said family members always walked with her child to school and taught him basic road safety rules, including looking both ways before crossing the road and never running into traffic.

“It’s very stressful. We worry about whether he will be safe,” she said, adding that reflective jackets would also help make children more visible to motorists.

Pupil Bohlale Mosiwa, 18, said her younger brother’s safety was her family’s biggest concern since they were forced to stop walking to school together.

She said her brother used to walk to school with her every morning, but because his school now started earlier than hers, the family had decided to use scholar transport rather than let him walk alone.

However, she said the family was still concerned about his safety due to the possibility of transport drivers driving under the influence of alcohol.

Mosiwa said she had felt more at ease when her younger brother walked to school with her because she could watch over him.

Peggie Mars, founder of the child road safety NGO Wheel Well, said South Africa had placed too much responsibility on children to adapt to dangerous roads instead of making roads safer for them.

Having spent 14 years working in child road safety, Mars said road safety should be seen as a children’s rights issue because unsafe roads limited their ability to get to school, play and move freely in their communities.

“In a developing economy like South Africa, authorities often choose cheaper solutions, such as teaching children how to navigate dangerous roads, instead of redesigning roads to make them safer. As a result, the burden of staying safe falls on the most vulnerable,” she said.

Mars said road systems were designed mainly to move vehicles as quickly as possible, while improving infrastructure often took a back seat because it required significant funding and political commitment.

“The need for children to wear reflective clothing simply to be seen by motorists highlighted deeper problems with South Africa’s road infrastructure.”

TimesLIVE