Are road crashes accidentally on purpose?

The prevalence of road crashes is so rife that the soaring statistics point to the crisis the country is facing economically and about the health systems of the country. Looking at the occurrence of same, one gets to realise that pedestrians are by far the most affected road users. Motorists are accused of losing control of their vehicles while many collide and others overturn. Such escapades indicate acute lack of control of vehicles in the traffic space, affecting other categories of traffic which could be using the road correctly at that given time. The avalanche of errors occurring on the road does not help one not to conclude that they sometimes look deliberate on the part of the errant road users. This narrative wonders if the plethora of accidents on our roads is accidentally on purpose.

Excessive speed and wrong overtaking

Most vehicles, whose drivers lose control, collide and get to over­turn are caught on the wrong side of regulated speed in that traffic zone. To date, excessive speed is by far the utmost cause of road crashes. It puzzles bystanders why someone would do, say, a 140km/ hr on a 60km/hr zone. The latter regulated speed can be talking to densely polluted areas or conges­tion of vehicles due to intersection or public service offered by vehi­cles. This particular driver would ignore all that so much that he may smash other vehicles from the rear, collide with others or fatally hit a pedestrian on the side of the road. No number of reasons can justify such a gross error in traffic, where everyone has their lives put at risk. The road harbours a lot of drivers who overtake promptly, way out of turn, ignoring prohibitive signage, road markings or a non-conducive opportunity to do so. Several colli­sions occur when one encroaches on the other lane, forcing oncoming traffic out of their correct lanes or failing to avoid a head-on crash in traffic.

Pedestrian negligence on the road

While pedestrians are by far the most killed in traffic, they aren’t saintly in their use of the road. Not only would they walk on the road not wearing reflective clothing, they also cross the road within fast traffic, risking their lives in every step they cross. This could be ad­jacent crossing areas or overhead bridges where their safety would be guaranteed. The rate at which pedestrians flood the road gives the impression that they don’t mind whether they live or die in that space. Cyclists form part of this vulnerable lot who are often caught on the wrong side of the law as far as they use the road. This is no different from the same behaviour displayed by passengers each time they are using the road. They overload themselves in open bakkies where their seating ar­rangement need to be precarious because at the slightest braking of the vehicle, they may lose grip and crash on the tarmac. Passengers also have the tendency to be quiet when the driver displays reckless driving and for those who survive, give the narrative later. Here is someone who sees one overtaking wrongly, excessively speed or using their gadget while ramming on the accelerator yet saying nothing until there is a crash.