Despite the efforts of carmakers to increase safety, drivers find ways to undermine them.
|||Despite the best efforts by car manufacturers to increase safety on the road, drivers continue to find ways to undermine them.
Many drivers photographed during a survey by a Daily News team last week were spotted not wearing seat belts, while chatting on cellphones.
What made this reckless behaviour more alarming is that some of the guilty parties were metro police and SAPS officers.
Car manufacturers have introduced a national car safety technology - a new car assessment programme - that aims to curb car accidents by, for example, activating a beeping tone that reminds drivers to wear their seat belts.
“The new car assessment programme is a testing system which assesses the safety of a model. It takes into account adult protection, child protection, pedestrian protection and safety assist,” said Automobile Association spokesman Gary Ronald.
“A maximum of five stars is an indication of the car’s safety. It started in the luxury market and made its way to cheaper cars.”
However, some motorists opt to sit on their safety belts to prevent the beeping, a practice Ronald strongly opposes.
“I think people who don’t wear their seat belts are crazy.”
”Seat belts save lives and if you are going to sit on them, then you might as well wear them. Drivers should buckle up. It is also their responsibility to ensure passengers do the same.”
An advocate group for responsible driving, South Africans Against Drunk Driving conducted a similar survey, which also yielded poor results.
“In Pietermaritzburg and at five police stations we counted 89 drivers in police vehicles or in SAPS uniforms,” said Sadd founder Caro Smit.
“Only four out of 89 who were counted were wearing seat belts, which is a very low 4.5 percent wearing rate.
“We have a directive from the legal department at the SAPS, who said, ‘There is no statutory exemption provided in any legislation for any number of the SA Police Service to not wear a seat belt’.”
Smit founded Sadd after the death of her son in a car accident. She said she was disappointed in the SAPS. She urged the police to set an example to motorists.
Approached for comment on the matter, police spokesman Colonel Vincent Mdunge appealed to the public to reserve judgement because of the stressful situations in which police officers found themselves.
“The public are quick to point fingers.”
“They forget that there are emergencies that happen all the time, that need to be attended to by policemen,” he said.
“They will understand only once they or their loved ones find themselves needing a policeman.
“We are not excusing driving without a seat belt. We are simply saying that there are extreme situations which force officers to do this.
Metro police spokesman Eugene Msomi was less diplomatic.
“Metro police should be wearing their seat belts at all times. We expect them to behave in an exemplary manner, so there is no exemption.
“Those who don’t wear them and talk on their cellphones risk disciplinary action.” - Daily News