POLL | Are you surprised that Polo drivers are involved in most fatal accidents?

A study conducted by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has confirmed what many of us have long suspected: Polo drivers are often the worst on the road.

The SA Fatal Crashes in Context study analysed crash data from October 1 2017 to June 30 2021 and Aarto speed infringement data from January 1 2019 to June 20 2021.

It found Volkswagen Polo drivers contributed to 16.7% of fatal crashes, followed by the Toyota Hilux at 14.2%.

The vehicles top the sales list in SA with 795,613 Polos and 592,021 Hilux bakkies on the road. The Toyota Quantum, a popular vehicle for minibus taxis, was involved in the third most fatal accident at 12.2%, despite having a much lower presence on the road.

The RTMC said this number is unacceptable.

“Though it is expected that public transport vehicles will be involved in crashes because they are on the road on a semi-full-time basis and travel more than a million vehicle kilometres compared to other vehicles, their contribution to fatalities remains unacceptably high considering that they constitute 3.3% of the total vehicle population.”

Last year the Toyota Hilux was SA’s best selling bakkie and most popular vehicle overall, with the Polo Vivo the highest selling passenger car.

Hilux bakkies accounted for 36,085 sales, Vivos for 21,877 and Polos for 18,235.

The study also found Polos amassed more than one million, or 21.5% of traffic infringements.

Quantums accounted for 6.1% of infringements.