Abstract:
The National Road Traffic Act, 1996 (Act 93 of 1996) (Department of Transport, 1996)
requires that all crashes be reported to any police officer at a police station, or any office
set aside by a competent authority (e.g., Metro Police), using the official Accident Report
(AR) form. Although this form is relatively comprehensive in comparison to the USA and
Europe, certain details are still filled in at the discretion of the official populating the form.
One detail that is often omitted, is a spatial reference (coordinate) information of where a
crash has taken place. Currently, virtually no fatal crashes reported to the Road Traffic
Management Corporation (RTMC) have coordinate information included.
This research demonstrates the importance of coordinate data in crash reporting and
subsequently, in implementing mitigating measures to reduce fatalities. The study draws
from countries where the recording of spatial reference is well-implemented. This study is
important for South Africa in the current conjuncture of road safety. South Africa is a
signatory of the United Nations Decade of Action (UNDoA) for Road Safety, and part of the
global efforts to reduce the number of crashes by half by 2030 (RTMC, 2022).
