South Africa has recently experienced a significant increase in road fatalities among our bus passengers.
There have been within the short time frame of 2 weeks 3 horrific bus crashes in KZN, the Free State and Gauteng.
Is this merely a coincidence or what is contributing to the increase in fatal bus crashes?
We approached accident investigator Stan Bezuidenhout with a few questions and some advice on how these crashes can be prevented.
What are the main contributing factors to bus accidents in South Africa, and how can they be mitigated?
In my personal experience, having investigated literally thousands of crashes, and many minor and serious bus crashes, the most common causes of bus crashes are:
Speed
Not so much highway speeds, but rather speeds around bends and corners. Most bus crashes I’ve investigated involves a roll-over component and serious damages and injuries.
The only mitigation for this would be better driver training, vehicle telemetry recorders (trackers) linked to the bus systems and not only satellite, and dash cameras (this causes a sense of accountability in drivers, governing their conduct by default).
Poor maintenance
I have seen numerous bus crashes that followed tyre failure, steering system issues, or brake failure. The most reliable mitigation strategy is proper and regular maintenance, but also rolling enforcement at random times.
Sadly, current law enforcement efforts are focused less on practical road safety than on revenue generation or collection. Many law enforcement units are relying more and more on automated systems, like speed cameras. These are great for monetizing non-compliance but have no measurable impact on actual driver behaviour or road safety.
Driver Error
Drivers are ultimately the ones who will detect mechanical problems first, know the condition of their vehicle, observe speed limits, control the vehicle, or make decisions regarding speed or even mechanical interventions.
If a driver is willing to drive above the speed limit, enter a bend at a higher-than-posted speed limit, or keep driving although he sees, feels, or hears a mechanical issue, he might literally be steering into trouble. The best way to address this is by better hiring practices, vetting, training, monitoring, enforcement, and corrective protocols.
How does the current state of public transport infrastructure impact road safety, especially in urban areas?
In South Africa, we don’t really have a "public transport infrastructure" to speak of, other than in the metropoles, in some cities - many of which have failed. If we look at countries like Sweden, where there is a very well-developed public transport infrastructure, the interaction between general traffic and public transport is segregated as far as possible.
In South Africa, all modes of transport are simply forced onto the same poorly maintained roads, where each is left to fend for itself. You could easily see multiple speed limits for the same section of road: 120 Km/h for general traffic, 100 Km/h for buses, 80 Km/h for trucks, and perhaps even lower speeds for abnormal vehicles. Since everyone is competing for the same space - sometimes on very poorly maintained roads - the outcome is inevitable.
Based on statistics, what patterns do you see in fatal bus crashes, and what preventative measures would you recommend to reduce fatalities?
The most common patterns I have observed are:
- Long-distance buses are involved in serious road traffic collisions more often than municipal buses.
- Bus Drivers are often required to drive for extended hours without rest.
- Driving culture in South Africa (specifically unsafe driving) is becoming the norm rather than the exception.
- Intentional human action (like speeding, driving too fast, and overtaking in the face of approaching traffic), as a driving culture, has been normalized.
- Operational goals trump safety interventions - repairs are pushed back in favour of revenue.
My recommendations remain:
- Better Driver Training.
- Better Driver Monitoring.
- Better Maintenance and Inspection.
- Better (more real-time) law enforcement.
- Greater accountability for drivers and owners.
How effective are current safety standards and regulations for bus drivers, and do you think more stringent measures are needed?
The results speak for themselves. We see major bus crashes in South Africa and in neighbouring countries every year, with no suggestion that numbers are dropping. To this, I think we actually don’t have fully functional safety standards. If all it takes for a bus to be "roadworthy" is a check-box examination once a year, and if all it takes to remain operational is fuel and a running engine, the industry cannot be described as totally safe.
As far as more stringent rules are concerned, I’d rather opt for more refined rules, better motivation for compliance, and industry-specific considerations. We cannot simply keep opting for a bigger stick and introduce no carrot.
In the United States, Commercial Transport is pretty much governed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Act. This act is far more refined than anything we have in place here. It would serve us well to take some pages from the books of first-world countries as a basis for better risk mitigation locally.
What role does driver training play in preventing accidents, and do you believe there should be mandatory advanced driving courses for bus drivers?
When it comes to training, people are influenced at different levels, depending on the environments in which they grew up, learned to drive, experienced road travel, the company they work for, the natural risks they face, how risk-averse they are, and even how much they are getting paid. For training to be effective, I think more is needed than "driver training" as it is classically approached.
If you take a driver who grew up only ever commuting on Taxis, who walked to school most of his life, who never owned a private motor vehicle, who grew up in a rough neighbourhood, and whose first experience with motor vehicles is getting a commercial truck or bus license, his driving culture will potentially be much more easily influenced towards unsafe driving on account of the absence of life-long risk awareness experiences.
In my mind, good driver training should start within a much wider social context - from primary school awareness - than the week the driver gets his first driving job. From my personal experience, certain driver cultures (like speeding or overloading) easily develop with the microcosms of a single employer, which causes a long-term issue that is not easily addressed.
In short - yes. Driver training is essential, but the training cannot only be designed around the "transport of product and operation of the mechanical vehicle systems." It needs to reach and expand much wider to where the driver’s culture, risk awareness, risk aversion, risk anticipation, and risk mitigation become natural traits.
What steps can both government and private bus companies take to improve passenger safety in terms of vehicle maintenance, driver vigilance, and road safety?
Private bus companies should develop a holistic risk mitigation program that encompasses the various elements that influence or affect safety. These include:
- The driver and his particular risk appetite - affected by cultural and social influences.
- The driver’s skills, abilities, and driving style - affected by on-the-job training.
- The expectations from and of the driver - systems, policies, procedures, mechanisms, technologies, and accountabilities that govern their activities.
- Corporate culture - a deep awareness of the natural forces at play within the driver workforce. Sometimes, companies are completely unaware of what their drivers are willing to do, or the risks they are willing to take, when there is no direct supervision.
- The Vehicle and its mechanical condition - from the perspective of its mechanical condition, failures, and repairs, to its capabilities, limitations, and perhaps even its design flaws.
- The operational environment - risk mitigation strategies should be aligned with risk avoidance like road crashes, hijackings, public violence, and even sabotage.
Getting an external specialist consultant, like Stan Bezuidenhout from IBF Investigations - www.ibfusa.info - to assist with the development of these programs and risk mitigation strategies would probably be the ideal place to start, if all this seems too onerous to tackle alone.
Do you think more public awareness campaigns are needed to educate both drivers and passengers about road safety, especially when travelling on buses?
I don’t know that passengers can contribute much to road safety and that it should never be their duty, but easy driver behaviour reporting though clearly displayed call, text, or email details installed on every bus might act as a culture motivator since the driver is aware of on-the-job judgment - as long as abuse is not tolerated.
In my mind, the best public awareness campaigns would be designed to empower passengers with awareness, mechanisms for feedback, and live availability.
Driver training was extensively addressed above.
Given the ongoing road accidents in the country, do you feel that technology (e.g., GPS tracking, speed monitoring) could help reduce road fatalities?
Absolutely. Emerging and existing technologies exist that would make any transport medium safer. The ones at the top of my personal list are:
- Dash Cameras or Vehicle Video Telemetry Systems that record on an ongoing basis.
- Vehicle Telemetry Systems (Trackers) that record location, date, time, speed, and even engine speed, throttle and brake input on a high-frequency basis.
- Integrated Driver Protection Systems like geofencing, speed fencing, or passenger feedback systems.
How do you respond to the claim that road conditions; such as weather, potholes, and poor signage contribute to accidents like this?
Poor roads can potentially and do in fact, contribute to crashes, but I cannot say that I have experienced any increase in bus crashes where road design, specifically, was substantially indicated as a primary cause. Obviously bad roads are dangerous and could lead to accidents. But the most serious accidents involving buses do not include potholes or poor road maintenance as a factor to any significant degree - at least not thus far.
Also view:
Guide to Bus Passenger Safety
Rollover Crashes, Crash Reconstruction and Safer Driving
Truck and Freight