SA traffic police ineffectual - WHO
May 20 2013 at 08:55am
By SAPA
By SAPA
Independent Newspapers
File photo: Liza van
Deventer
The policing of South Africa's road
laws is largely inefficient, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO)
study reported in Beeld on Monday.
The study found that South African
traffic officials were lax in enforcing seatbelt laws and those pertaining to
the safe restraint of children, the newspaper reported.
It found that only 59 percent of
drivers and seven percent of front seat passengers wore safety belts.
It did not supply statistics for back
seat passengers, but a 2007 Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) study
reportedly found only eight percent of back seat passengers wore safety belts.
The WHO study found that South African
law enforcers scored badly when it came to drinking and driving laws, and fared
only slightly better on the policing of speeding.
Beeld reported that according to the
Medical Research Council of SA, alcohol played a role in 55 percent of the
country's road deaths. -Sapa
