Death by Traffic

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6/19/06

Today I was listening to the news on the radio. This morning they mentioned that 22 had died in traffic accidents in the last 24 hours. I am sad to say that it is a regular occurrence to hear of a large number of people dying. This evening they were interviewing a gentleman and asking him if he thought that traffic related deaths are too high. He said, "Yes, most definitely." He also stated that South African is the highest in traffic related deaths in the world, they have 46 in 100,000 deaths per year in comparison with other developed countries which have 4-7 per 100,000. Why is this so? Well there are a few reasons. One thing is that 50% of the traffic licenses in this country are obtained by fraud. Another is that there are no inspections and no regulations on upkeep of motor vehicles. I have seen tractor-trailers with a double tire on one side and a single on the other. On most roads you are able to pass all the time, with the exceptions of in blind spots were there is a solid line in the middle of the road indicating that it is illegal to pass (people do anyway). There are also no child restaining seats. Children usually sit on their mothers lap in the front or stand up in the back seat when they are big enough. Most of the deaths that are heard about on the radio and news are from taxis and buses. Taxis are Volkswagen vans and contain about 20 passengers each. The buses are like a sightseer vehicle which have seats for about 25 people. Both of these vehicles roll over easily. The seatbelt laws are similar to Pennsylvania in that only people in the front seat of the vehicle are required to wear seatbelts. This leaves everyone in buses and taxis unbuckled, many with children on their laps. Often there are reports of people burning to death because they are trapped in the taxis and not able to get out. They do have emergency exits but again if there are no required inspections than how does a person know if these are working properly. There has been a traffic police unit proposed but the government never, for one reason or another, passed it. Something definitely needs to be done; the death toll in this country on a daily basis due to AIDS is definitely high enough without adding traffic deaths to it.

This past weekend was a good one. Saturday I cleaned and helped with cooking. Sunday we celebrated Father's day at a picnic sort of thing at a local bed and breakfast farm. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Father's day.

P.S. I think that you all lost my email address so here it is again: [e-mail] anyone reading is expected to give me a little email including any lame events that have occurred recently in their lives, thanks.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.



Sara

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