South Africa's reckless driving culture: What is fuelling the lawlessness?

If you have ever been in a car in South Africa, you would have experienced it.

Not the beautiful surroundings or potholed roads, but the complete lack of adherence to the rule of the road and daily carnage.

It seems that once we get behind the wheel of a car, the laws are irrelevant. 

Alcohol-related deaths

While on holiday in the Northern Cape over the festive season, we would regularly stop next to the road at the rather dilapidated picnic spots to stretch our legs.

The proliferation of empty liquor bottles was appalling. Empty beer, wine and hard liquor containers were spread everywhere. That means that the possibility of encountering a driver under the influence was relatively high, putting every other road user, including families, possibly even their own, in mortal danger.

It’s no surprise then that South Africa has the highest rate of alcohol-related deaths, at 57.5%.

Why? I ask myself.

Just recently in Cape Town, an alleged drunken driver was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol after hitting two runners on Victoria Road in Bantry Bay. Both runners, a man and a woman, were reportedly thrown into the air from the force of the impact. The woman was flung over the wall on the side of the road leading to a rescue operation and is in a critical condition.

Meanwhile, while driving from the Sandton CBD to Pretoria during peak traffic recently, I stopped counting the number of infringements. 

Ignoring red lights, stop signs and pedestrian crossings seemed to be the order of the day.

We’re using the emergency lane as an extra lane on the highway and pushing in ahead of traffic at a turn from a straight lane only, indicators seem to be an optional extra and the safe distance to the car ahead of you, merely a place for someone to squeeze into. 

Again, why, I ask myself.

As I write this, I have just experienced a Tshwane Metropolitan Police Department car skip a red light. 

When I caught up to them a little further on and pointed it out, they stared at me as if I was speaking Mandarin. 

People boast on social media about the ridiculously fast speeds they are driving on public roads with no apparent consequence. One only has to see the recent headlines of supercar accidents in Cape Town to see the consequences to apparent reckless driving.

Justification of corruption

The list is endless so to try and find out why South Africans think the driving code doesn’t apply to them, we reached out to Professor Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Professor of Criminology at the University of Pretoria.

“I am of the opinion that road users believe they can get away with anything on the roads due to a lack of consistent proactive enforcement of traffic laws."

The professor claims that often people will bribe metro police officers and that many officers have "a mentality to earn an extra income by means of corruption and bribes". 

“The very people that offer the bribes are also guilty of committing a crime. They allow themselves to soothe their conscience by justifying it because everyone is part of the corrupt system, ‘so I am not doing anything wrong’. This kind of thinking and justification creates a culture where rules and authority are often disregarded.

“The law (often ignored by many) states you are not allowed to drive with your mobile phone in your hand, you must wear a seatbelt, you must not drink and drive, you should not litter on the roads, you should not pass on a solid line, you cannot park in a handicapped parking area.

Boot parties

“How many times have you seen a "boot" party where people play loud music from their vehicles and drink alcoholic beverages from a cooler box in the boot?

"And there are also many drive home from social events under the influence thinking the odds are too low to worry about this. 

“Many South Africans are guilty of driving under the influence but are the first to point fingers at corrupt law enforcement officers."

Professor Bezuidenhout adds that the current social norms and attitudes in South Africa reflect a position of discontent regarding rules and regulations. 

“We are normalising crime and more specifically traffic crimes in our country.

"Once you start to normalise a behaviour it becomes second nature ‘everyone is doing it... and their lack of any respect for traffic rules, lest we not forget the blue light brigades’.

"It is 'normal' to commit a traffic crime because everyone is doing it and the chances of getting away with it is close to 100%."

Failing system

Professor Bezuidenhout adds that many people adapt to dilapidated areas, road disintegration and accept it as part of the failing system.

“They accept social disorganisation, particularly at a young age.

"Factors such as potholes, safety at night, uneven surfaces, and inadequate lighting contribute to accidents and further exacerbate the issue of road safety and normalisation.

"To exacerbate this issue, a new trend of stealing road signs to sell to certain scrap metal dealers has seen the light.

“Consider the issue of people who deliberately toss their waste and specifically fast food bags with empty plastic and polystyrene containers from their vehicles. If you inquire why they do it, the nonsensical answer is - job creation. There is no forward thinking regarding the impact of waste on the environment, fellow citizens and animals.

“Who is going to clean up your mess? We need to socialise our children to respect public areas, to place waste in a dustbin and when we teach them to drive, to respect the rules and abide by them. 

"A lack of socialisation and developing a moral compass that indicates right from wrong needs to be established by adults. Children will copy the behaviour of adults. At present many of us are co-creators of what you see on the roads.”

Professor Bezuidenhout, turning to some taxis that ignore road rules, says this has been allowed to develop over time with the government unable to control it.

“The public transport industry in South Africa has fatally disintegrated and many people are completely reliant on the taxi industry. They also manipulate routes and their mafiosos will burn buses, murder the competition or blackmail people if they enter their routes. 

“These issues have developed over time and the government is not really introducing actions to manage the lawlessness."

Over-regulation

“In certain areas like driving from Johannesburg to Harrismith speeding is over regulated with cameras. In peak times, roadblocks suddenly appear and traffic gets blocked for kilometres. 

“This is a show of force by the government to try and reflect that they are in control. These actions are seen as a managerial approach by the government to show the people that they are in control. This is completely ineffective as thousands still die due to risky driving behaviour.”

Those that do abide by the rules he says, are over controlled by laws on all levels of society.

“The law-abiding citizens pay their TV licenses, they have legal electricity connections, they keep to speed limits and if they are caught by sometimes questionable means like hidden cameras and they pay their traffic fines. 

“The authorities over control the law abiding citizen in terms of traffic regulations, speeding, license renewals, electricity bills, road worthy vehicles, E-tolls and if you dare to stray from these rules you will be punished. The reason is they have your ID number, address, mobile number and can monitor and control you. 

“However, many road users who ignore rules and drive with fake drivers licences, fake address details and bogus vehicle papers never get stopped or reprimanded or they get away with a bribe. The perceived lack of consequences for breaking traffic laws can therefore lead to a normalization of risk taking behaviour and illegal driving behaviours.

So what now?

Are we then doomed to live in a Mad Max parallel universe?

To avoid this, Professor Bezuidenhout feels a few fundamental issues need to be addressed.

“A complete cultural change is needed. Traffic regulation needs to be strict and no corruption should be tolerated. A strong political will and healthy socialisation regarding the road and road use are fundamental in turning the current lawlessness around.

“We can reintroduce a comprehensive road safety education programme in schools.

"I also think parents who drive in a risky way and make comments while driving with their own children in the vehicle have a huge impact on future young drivers. 

“Also, many children are transported to and from school by chartered taxis and experience first- hand how these drivers drive and how often they ignore traffic rules.

“Political will, informed socialisation and proactive actions as well as consistent media messages can perhaps influence this culture of ignorance and non-care about road use and traffic rules in South Africa.

“Parents, guardians and primary role players therefore have a huge responsibility towards the young generation to turn this culture of road use ignorance around,”  he concluded. 

Can South Africa's driving be changed for the better... only time will tell.