Abstract
We reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly of the fatal accidents occurring on South Africa’s roads. The cost of human lives indisputably equates to ‘the ugly’ and the economic cost of accidents associates with ‘the bad’. ‘The good’ relates to the reduction of both these costs that may result from the entrance of self-driving cars into the South African market as well as awareness campaigns like the Arrive Alive National Road Safety Strategy. The general contribution of this paper is to raise awareness of the effects of accidents, more specifically fatal accidents. Current trends in terms of human factors as well as road and environmental factors involved in the fatal accidents on South African roads are summarised. This paper also serves as a preliminary investigation into possible factors influencing these accidents, which ought to be of interest to a very broad readership, more specifically those focusing on risk analysis, and certainly is of interest to any citizen of South Africa.Significance:
 
 Awareness is raised of the effects of fatal accidents on South African roads.
 Current trends in terms of human factors as well as road and environmental factors on road accidents are reflected upon.
 The futuristic effect of self-driving cars is explored.
Highlights
The high number of accidents on South African roads results in loss of human life with the associated pain, grief and suffering and has a negative effect on the well-being of South Africans and on South Africa’s socio-economic development
Human factors contributed to almost 80% of the fatal accidents on South African roads, for which 52.5% of these incidents related to jaywalking and 11.6% to speeding
The remaining 7.8% of the fatal accidents were caused by vehicle factors, with tyres bursting prior to the accident in 71.7% of the cases (Figure 7)
Summary
The high number of accidents on South African roads results in loss of human life with the associated pain, grief and suffering and has a negative effect on the well-being of South Africans and on South Africa’s socio-economic development. Third-party insurance usually covers this damage, but up to 35% of vehicles in South Africa are uninsured.[8] Again, a risk analysis is required because an increase in fatalities will lead to an increase in claims which will result in an increase in premiums and increased cost to the Road Accident Fund. In order for these risk analyses to be conducted, factors that could possibly affect the number or severity of accidents on South African roads need to be determined. We report some important and interesting findings regarding South African accidents, focusing on fatal accidents, to inform and to raise awareness as a general contribution to the wider audience
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