Serious efforts must be made to combat the high accident rate on the roads in the Republic of South Africa. The same spirit which exists in the field of medicine when there are evidences that an epidemic is beginning to take its toll, must come into being amongst those who are concerned with traffic and its problems. The public itself needs to become more aware of road safety. Many associations and institutions have been created to assist with the inculcation of the road safety ideal. The National Road Safety Council, which creates opportunities for investigation into aspects of road safety must continue to expand its sphere of influence. The research project contained on the following pages represents an attempt to contribute to the human factor in traffic safety, particularly by making a closer study of the driver of the motor vehicle. The writer is concerned with the carnage that is caused by road accidents. His previous study of personality and particularly of the projective techniques of assessment has prompted a consideration of the problem.

People without private transport are dependent on public transportation. Public transport, particularly minibus taxis, is the most popular mode of transport in the Northern Areas of Port Elizabeth. The objective of the minibus taxi industry is to provide public transport to minibus taxi commuters in an economically, reliable and safe manner. The focus of this case study was to explore and determine the views of minibus taxi commuters who utilised minibus taxis as a form of public transport, as well as the views of minibus taxi drivers in terms of adhering to road safety requirements on Stanford Road in Port Elizabeth. The literature survey revealed that transport in South Africa has had a political dimension arising from the Group Areas Act 41 of 1950. One consequence of this Act, which imposed residential segregation on the country, was that poor black commuters were forced to live far out of town, forcing them to travel long distances to places of work and commercial centres, with a commensurate increase in transport costs. Data was collected by means of two structured questionnaires which were administered to minibus taxi drivers and minibus taxi commuters to explore their views and experience of road safety on Stanford Road in Port Elizabeth. A discussion on the minibus taxi industry, minibus taxi associations and law enforcement agencies in Port Elizabeth, as well as the sustainability of the minibus taxi industry, followed in Chapter Three. Through this case study, valuable insight was gained regarding the minibus taxi industry and road safety in Port Elizabeth. Finally, recommendations to improve road safety were made.

Thesis (MPAM.) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / This study investigated the effectiveness of the national road safety strategy towards reducing accidents and road fatalities on the N1 in the Limpopo Province. Qualitative research was conducted to determine the experiences of the traffic law enforcement officers in implementing the road safety strategy in the Limpopo Province. Primary qualitative data were collected using the semi-structured questionnaire supplemented by telephonic interviews. Two groups of participants including the traffic law enforcement officers (n=10) and managers (n=5) participated in the study. The study established the domains of effective implementation and areas of challenges with discrepancy between the expected level of strategy implementation and availability of sufficient human and fiscal resources to enhance effective strategy implementation. The factors that impeded the effective implementation of the road safety strategy towards reducing accidents and road fatalities on the N1 in the Limpopo Province included the inadequate allocation and distribution of traffic officers in areas with a high probability of accidents, delayed recruitment of sufficient traffic law enforcement officers and unavailability of required budgeted funds for procurement of state of the art physical equipment to monitor the speed and magnitude of traffic flows and real-time surveillance and capture of road safety transgressions. The findings revealed that there is a considerable need for traffic law enforcement managers to collaborate with behavioural professionals and the police to ascertain effective behavioural change mechanisms to encourage road safety compliance. However, recruitment and constant re-training of traffic law enforcement officers on best practice strategies for traffic law enforcement could be useful to ensure the effective implementation of the road safety strategy; thereby contributing towards the reduction of accidents and road fatalities on the N1 in the Limpopo Province.

Child pedestrian injury and mortality is an issue of significant public health concern in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng, in South Africa. Since there is a paucity of studies in the last decade or more on fatal childhood traffic and non-traffic injuries in Johannesburg, this study aspires to address the disproportion in this domain of research, and provide more recent, and comprehensive empirical evidence over a ten-year period. The overarching aim of this study was to describe and examine the magnitude, circumstances, and neighbourhood characteristics of fatal pedestrian injuries among children (0-14 years) in Johannesburg for the period from 2001 to 2010. More specifically, the objectives of the study were: firstly, to provide a comprehensive epidemiological description of the magnitude, trends and occurrence of pedestrian mortality among children; secondly, to describe and examine the epidemiology of child pedestrian mortality in relation to children as motor vehicle passengers; thirdly, to describe and examine child pedestrian mortality in relation to non-traffic injuries, in particular, burns and drowning; and fourthly, to assess the influence of neighbourhood characteristics on child pedestrian mortality. The study conceptualised pedestrian road safety within an ecological systems framework. The study used quantitative descriptive, and multivariate logistic regression methods of analysis to examine child pedestrian mortality data. The study drew on data from the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (NIMSS) and the Census 2001. The main findings indicated that black, male children aged 5 to 9 years (11.02/100 000) are the most vulnerable, and that mortality occurred predominantly during the afternoons and early evenings (12h00-16h00 and 16h00-21h00), over weekends, during school holidays, and to a lesser extent, during non-holiday months. In addition, neighbourhood characteristics that reflected concentrations of disadvantage, single female-headed households and residentially stable areas were associated with child pedestrian mortality. The study findings highlight the need for critical action in terms of investment in child pedestrian safety research, and appropriate prevention initiatives guided by stringent evidenced-based studies, and the design of safe pedestrian, vehicular and urban environments. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

This study followed a qualitative research approach, and semi-structured interviews regarding the subject matter were conducted with the knowledgeable and experienced respondents in the Gauteng traffic-related departments. A literature review was also conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the research problem in both local and international context. The research stresses the fact that motorists are continuing to lose their lives on Gauteng province, as a result of violent traffic disputes, therefore people suffer financial, physical, psychological as well as social effects as a consequence of such actions. The findings revealed that all the traffic stakeholders are working cooperatively towards implementing the crime prevention strategic plans, but for policing road rage in particular there is no specific strategy in action. In addition, this study reveals that it is impossible for the traffic police to curb road rage incidents because the latter occur as a result of unpredictable human behavior. / Police Practice / M. Tech. (Policing)

Child pedestrian injury and mortality is an issue of significant public health concern in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng, in South Africa. Since there is a paucity of studies in the last decade or more on fatal childhood traffic and non-traffic injuries in Johannesburg, this study aspires to address the disproportion in this domain of research, and provide more recent, and comprehensive empirical evidence over a ten-year period. The overarching aim of this study was to describe and examine the magnitude, circumstances, and neighbourhood characteristics of fatal pedestrian injuries among children (0-14 years) in Johannesburg for the period from 2001 to 2010. More specifically, the objectives of the study were: firstly, to provide a comprehensive epidemiological description of the magnitude, trends and occurrence of pedestrian mortality among children; secondly, to describe and examine the epidemiology of child pedestrian mortality in relation to children as motor vehicle passengers; thirdly, to describe and examine child pedestrian mortality in relation to non-traffic injuries, in particular, burns and drowning; and fourthly, to assess the influence of neighbourhood characteristics on child pedestrian mortality. The study conceptualised pedestrian road safety within an ecological systems framework. The study used quantitative descriptive, and multivariate logistic regression methods of analysis to examine child pedestrian mortality data. The study drew on data from the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (NIMSS) and the Census 2001. The main findings indicated that black, male children aged 5 to 9 years (11.02/100 000) are the most vulnerable, and that mortality occurred predominantly during the afternoons and early evenings (12h00-16h00 and 16h00-21h00), over weekends, during school holidays, and to a lesser extent, during non-holiday months. In addition, neighbourhood characteristics that reflected concentrations of disadvantage, single female-headed households and residentially stable areas were associated with child pedestrian mortality. The study findings highlight the need for critical action in terms of investment in child pedestrian safety research, and appropriate prevention initiatives guided by stringent evidenced-based studies, and the design of safe pedestrian, vehicular and urban environments. / Psychology / D.Phil. (Psychology)

This study followed a qualitative research approach, and semi-structured interviews regarding the subject matter were conducted with the knowledgeable and experienced respondents in the Gauteng traffic-related departments. A literature review was also conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the research problem in both local and international context. The research stresses the fact that motorists are continuing to lose their lives on Gauteng province, as a result of violent traffic disputes, therefore people suffer financial, physical, psychological as well as social effects as a consequence of such actions. The findings revealed that all the traffic stakeholders are working cooperatively towards implementing the crime prevention strategic plans, but for policing road rage in particular there is no specific strategy in action. In addition, this study reveals that it is impossible for the traffic police to curb road rage incidents because the latter occur as a result of unpredictable human behavior. / Police Practice / M. Tech. (Policing)

Text in English / An improved roads and public transport system also referred to in this research as road-transport, is strategic to economic growth in countries worldwide. This is why the improvements relating thereto have been prioritised by governments in developing economies such as South Africa. The problem that therefore informed the research in this study is that ever since the improvements on road-transport in South Africa, the implications thereof on the role of the Tshwane Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD) have not been studied, to understand the associated dynamics. The dynamics relate to how the road-transport improvements have swayed the role of law enforcement in the City of Tshwane. To unpack the dynamics, the study posed the question: What are the implications of the road-transport improvements on the role of the TMPD? In an attempt to answer this question, the study premised itself on exploring one primary aim, which is: to explore the implications of the road-transport improvements, on the role of the TMPD. To operationalise this aim, the study used three research objectives, which are: to describe the road-transport improvements In South Africa; to explain the role of the Tshwane Metropolitan Police Department; as well as to identify factors that hinders the effectiveness of the TMPD. The research used a qualitative approach wherein primary data was collected using interviews. The research showed that road-transport improvements in South Africa can be summarised into two categories. These are traffic improvements and improvements in public transport. The research also found that the role of the TMPD include traffic policing, by-law enforcement, crime prevention, crime Investigation and crowd management. Although the role of the TMPD is regulated properly, the study shows that this law enforcement agency was constrained by a number of challenges. The challenges include: lack of clarity in their crime prevention mandate; limited investigative powers; balancing their enforcement and crime prevention mandates; poor training in crowd management; staff shortages; resource problems; and administrative challenges. To deal with the problems thus requires strong management and leadership within the institution. / Police Practice / M. Tech. (Policing)