Easter road safety takes centre stage as travel increases

It’s Easter this weekend. That’s something that means many things to many different people; a very welcome long weekend to let off steam from the pressures of what is already an unbelievable year less than a quarter through, or a time to reflect.

It is always a special time of the year, particularly when there is the confluence of the high days of the major faiths – the end of the fast for Muslims, Passover for Jews and the resurrection for Christians.

It’s a time when you could be forgiven for hoping that there could be a brief respite, if not a direction change for the world, as all the ostensible believers take a breath, recalibrate and recommit to the tenets of their faith.

It’s also a time to check in on family and friends. The roads will be extra busy later this week and again early next week before the schools reopen.

The good news is that there will be a visible law enforcement presence on all the country’s major roads. It does have an impact: the thought of being held instantly accountable for your transgressions, being pulled over and fined, as well as having to cough up for any other offences against your name tends to cool the hotheads behind the wheel.

Visible policing does work – even if there is no actual law enforcement.

There was a definite behavioural change on Johannesburg roads in the run up to the G20 summit last year – and the accident rate over Easter is in line with the average monthly rate for the rest of the year.

ALSO READ: BMA announces Easter border changes: What travellers need to know

When you consider the increased volumes on the road this weekend, that’s actually a triumph.

The question is why we don’t have visible policing all the time.

Safety, though, starts with the driver. Plan your trip with enough time for stops, don’t leave at the last moment. Don’t be tired before you even start.

It’s simple enough, but people drive tired and overwrought, they get cross, they get even more impatient, they drive selfishly.

The result is predestined and invariably catastrophic. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Let’s make a pact that if we can’t do anything to end the carnage and the devastation playing out elsewhere in the world this week, we can at least do our best not to add to it on our roads.

Happy Easter.

NOW READ: All eyes on roads: KZN tightens grip ahead of Easter rush