Abstract
South Africa has one of the highest incidences of road accidents in the world. Most accidents are avoidable and are caused by driver behaviour and errors. The purpose of this article was to identify the riskiest driver behaviours in commercial fleets in South Africa, to determine the business impact of such behaviour, to establish a framework for the management of risky driver behaviour and to test the framework by applying a leading commercial driver behaviour management system as a case study. The case study comprised three South African commercial fleets. Using data from these fleets, critical incident triangles were used to determine the ratio data of risky driver behaviour to near-collisions and collisions. Based on managing the riskiest driver behaviours as causes of more serious incidents and accidents, the results indicated that through the implementation of an effective driver risk management system, risky incidents were significantly reduced.
Highlights
South Africa reportedly has one of the worst road accident records in the world
According to the International Transport Forum (Steyn 2013), South Africa is ranked the worst out of 36 countries when considering road fatalities and it is estimated that road crashes cost the country over R300 billion every year
According to Collins Letsoala, the acting chief executive officer (CEO) of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), as quoted by Mbanjwa (2013:1), ‘statistics showed 90% of all road crashes in South Africa were a result of one traffic violation or another’
Summary
South Africa reportedly has one of the worst road accident records in the world. According to the International Transport Forum (Steyn 2013), South Africa is ranked the worst out of 36 countries when considering road fatalities and it is estimated that road crashes cost the country over R300 billion every year. According to Collins Letsoala, the acting chief executive officer (CEO) of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), as quoted by Mbanjwa (2013:1), ‘statistics showed 90% of all road crashes in South Africa were a result of one traffic violation or another’. The majority of vehicle accidents are caused by driver behaviour and errors. Risky driving behaviour can lead to near-collisions, crashes, injuries and fatalities
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