1 in 10 vehicles on road responsible for car accidents - not surprising when you see how people drive and their attitudes to other drivers

Yesterday a BMW overtook me on African Road, basically ramping over a series of speed bumps and then swerving in to avoid approaching traffic. It is so incredibly stupid. You drive slowly because you're in a quiet suburban neighborhood, and then someone behind you gets miffed, sprints past and ramps over a series of speed bumps. I guess something in their brain doesn't compute. It's just 'I did it my way' and my way is 'speed' - at all costs. Money and human lives not withstanding. Stupid.

clipped from www.sowetan.co.za AA spokesman Gary Ronald estimates that about 5% of the accidents on South Africa’s roads were caused by bad signage and road conditions. Law enforcement was one of the larger problems, he said, with taxis and motorists alike displaying a flagrant disregard of simple traffic laws. “In almost every case, a crash is preceded by a traffic violation,” he said. In 2008, there were 9,2 million cars on South African roads and 900,000 accidents, Ronald said. “This accounts for a staggering 10% of vehicles on the road, with a cost to the economy equalling 3% of the national GDP (gross domestic product) and over 42 fatalities each day.” Ronald said road accidents were as big a problem for the country as issues such as Aids and crime. “It is estimated that, by 2020, road accidents will be third in the leading cause of unnatural deaths, ahead of Aids,” he said.