The Road Accident Fund (RAF) welcomes the 11 per cent decrease in festive season road fatalities announced by the Minister of Transport, Joe Maswanganyi, for the period December 1, in 2017, to January 15 this year.
RAF’s acting chief executive officer Lindelwa Jabavu said that while the numbers still remain high, the improvement bears testimony to the fact that intensified efforts by law enforcement agencies and transport entities, such as the RAF who try to raise road safety awareness, have had some positive impact.
“We send our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the 1 676 who died on our roads and wish those still in hospital a speedy recovery.
“These statistics are not merely numbers – they are precious lives and as a caring arm of government, we urge qualifying claimants to access the much-needed services fund directly rather than through litigation in order to expedite the claims process,” said Jabavu.
“Road safety remains a priority at the RAF, with awareness being generated through ongoing campaigns such as #AlwaysRemember, which urges road users to always remember to be safe and consider others when on the road.
“The campaign, which is being run on all community, regional, and national media platforms, targets all road users.
“It is particularly relevant as children begin the school year and use public transport.”
Jabavu said drunken driving, speed, unroadworthy vehicles and fatigue also remain major risks and all road users are urged to work together to ensure this carnage stops.
“Despite its good intentions to ease the financial and emotional burden of accident victims, the RAF’s claims expenditure still remains unacceptably high at over R33 billion per annum.
“The claims expenditure, coupled with liabilities of more than R188-b, represent large sums of money which our country could rather use for valuable services and infrastructure.
“The Department of Transport’s proposed Road Accident Benefit Scheme Bill, which is currently going through the legislative process, is meant to address this difference and will ensure thousands currently excluded from the claims process, can access necessary benefits,” said Jabavu.
“Despite the limitations and challenges, the RAF will honour its commitment to cover, compensate and rehabilitate all those who are, unfortunately, injured or killed on our roads.”
For more information regarding the claims process, visit www.raf.co.za or contact the RAF call centre on 0860 23 55 23, from Monday to Friday, 7.45am to 4pm.
