Speaking at the launch of the Festive Season Road Safety Campaign in Pretoria on Sunday, Transport Minister Ben Martins said that the majority of deaths on our roads are caused by irresponsible human behaviour, which highlights the need to educate communities about road safety.

Martins said that 82.2% of deaths on South Africa’s roads during the 2010 and 2011 festive seasons were due to the human factor, including speeding, drunken driving, driver fatigue, unroadworthy vehicles and drunken pedestrians.

The minister added that the statistics show that law enforcement officers were not solely responsible for preventing accidents, but that road users themselves have a responsibility to consciously obey the law on the roads.

“Which means we should place more emphasis on education, public awareness and compliance with the law,” he said.

“The road safety campaign should therefore become a daily preoccupation and not only during the festive and Easter seasons.”

Martins said that as part of the department’s attempt to curb road deaths this festive season, it would work closely with, among others, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), the Road Accident Fund, the Cross Border Road Traffic Agency and the Road Traffic Infringement Agency.

The RTMC acting CEO, Collins Letsoalo, said it had noted “poor human behaviour” at times when law enforcement officers were not usually on duty.

He mentioned that most fatal accidents occur between 22:00and 06:00 from Thursday nights to Sunday mornings and that the most dangerous road in the country was the R61, on the N6 between the N2 and Oslo Beach, south of Queenstown in the Eastern Cape.

He also believes that head-on collisions as a result of drivers falling asleep at the wheel would be the main cause for fatal accidents this festive season.