Africa on the move - but not to fast

Abstract

Paper presented at the 30th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 11-14 July 2011 "Africa on the Move", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.

According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation (2008) the third highest number of road fatalities (818 in 2007-08) in South Africa can be ascribed to "Failure to stop or yield". This follows behind pedestrian and overtaking related road fatalities. In a study of the minimum speed of vehicles through stop-controlled intersections during free-flow conditions it was found that very few drivers would come to a complete stop. Very high speeds were observed at some locations. Different types of layout were observed - such as two-way, three-way and four-way stops, with different available sight distances. At the same time a user survey was done by means of a questionnaire to determine the reasons why drivers do not stop at stop- controlled intersections. It was observed that nearly 90 per cent of road users do not come to a complete stop while less than eight per cent said in the user survey that they would always come to a complete stop. The 85th percentile speed through these intersections was found to be 19 km/h. The paper describes the data collection, the results and discusses the possible reasons for non compliance of the traffic rules. Different solutions to this problem will be discussed. These include the increased use of yield signs, traffic circles and improved law enforcement.