POLL | Should the speed limit drop by 10km/hour?

Going 120km/h plus on the highway could soon be a thing of the past, if the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s proposal to parliament is implemented.

The agency this week called for the speed limit on urban roads to be decreased from 60km/h to 50km/h, and on freeways from 120km/h to 110km/h.

The reduction aims to cut the number of accidents and bring SA in line with the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030’s goal of reducing crashes by 50% by 2030. 

The agency said speeding contributed to 24% of fatal crashes in SA, followed by jaywalking pedestrians (23%), overtaking across barrier lines (5%) and turning in front of oncoming traffic (4%).

A recent SA Fatal Crashes in Context study by the agency found Volkswagen Polo drivers contributed to 16.7% of fatal crashes on SA roads, followed by Toyota Hilux drivers at 14.2%.

The 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.

The vehicles are also the most popular, 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.