Field Data: Distributions and Costs of Road-Traffic Fatalities in South Africa

Road-traffic crashes and fatalities constitute major social and economic issues in South Africa. They are a major cause of morbidity and mortality comparable to HIV/AIDS, homicides, and some chronic diseases. Road-traffic accident data for the year 2003, obtained from the Department of Transport, Pretoria, South Africa, were used for this study. The valuation of the costs of road-traffic crashes and fatalities in South Africa is based on the gross output or human capital approach. During the study period, 10,197 fatal road crashes and 12,353 fatalities were reported. More than 50% of the fatal road crashes and fatalities occurred in only three out of 11 provinces. The Northern Cape, which is the least populated province, had the highest fatal road crashes per 100,000 population and fatalities per 100,000 population. The number of road-traffic fatalities in the rural areas was 2.7 times that in the urban areas. The total costs of the road-traffic fatalities, which was about Rand 8 billion (>US$ 1 billion), is about 0.6% of the country's nominal gross domestic product (GDP) for 2003. In 60% of the cases and costs of road-traffic fatalities, persons aged 20–39 years were involved, although this age group is only 27% of the country's population. The rural areas accounted for 73% and the urban areas 27% of the total costs of fatal road-traffic crashes. Those living in the rural areas of the South African society and those aged 20–49 years constitute high-risk groups of road-traffic crashes and fatalities. They are also responsible for most of the attendant costs of fatal crashes and fatalities in the country.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/49192340
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission from Taylor and Francis
• Authors:
  • Olukoga, Abiodun
  • Harris, Geoff
• Publication Date: 2006-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 400-402
• Serial:
  • Traffic Injury Prevention
  • Volume: 7
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis
  • ISSN: 1538-9588
  • Serial URL: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/15389588.html

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age groups; Areas and regions; Costs; Crash causes; Crashes; Fatalities; Gross domestic product; High risk drivers; Highway traffic; Output; Population; Population density; Rural areas; Statistical distributions; Traffic crashes; Traffic data; Transportation departments; Urban areas; Valuation
• Geographic Terms: Pretoria (South Africa); South Africa
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01042018
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 1 2007 8:31AM