Volkswagen Polo, Toyota Hilux and Toyota Quantum are the vehicle models mostly involved in fatal crashes in South Africa and account for the highest number speed infringement fines issued, a study conducted by the Road Traffic Management Corporation has revealed.
A baseline study – titled South African Fatal Crashes in Context – which was published last month analysed fatal crash data from 1 October 2017 to 30 June 2021 a period of 3.8 years. It also analysed Aarto speed infringement data from 1 January 2019 to 20 June 2021, a period of 2.5 years.
A total of 48 330 vehicles were involved in 37 583 fatal crashes with 45 232 deaths during the period according to data on the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s national crash data management system.
An analysis of the top 20 vehicle models involved in fatal crashes showed that the Volkswagen Polo, Toyota Hilux and Toyota Quantum were involved in 43.2% of fatal crashes.
The Volkswagen Polo came out on top, with a contribution of 16.7% of all fatal crashes, confirming what many South Africans have long suspected. It was followed closely by the Toyota Hilux which was involved in 14.2% of fatal crashes and the Toyota Quantum with a recorded 12.2% involvement in fatal crashes.
These three vehicle models also accounted for the highest number of Aarto speed infringement fines issued by the Johannesburg Metro Police Department, Tshwane Metro Police Department, the Gauteng Department of Community Safety, and the National Traffic Police.
A total of 35% of speed infringement fines were issued to these three vehicle models in the period under review event though they constituted 33% of the total vehicle population.
The high number of speed infringements committed by public transport type of vehicles such as the Toyota Quantum is unacceptable and needs to be addressed.
Although 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 million vehicle kilometres compared to other vehicle models, their contribution to fatalities remains unacceptably high considering that they constitute a mere 3.3% of the total vehicle population.
