In our experience we found that drivers' attitude towards other road users and un-roadworthy vehicle plays a much bigger role in South African road accidents than speeding.

Insurance companies and the RAF have to pay out numerous claims each year which could not be resolved due to a lack of information. This is because important information is not recorded at the scene of the accident and some time the data the SAPS records are not useable or unreliable.

We at accident.co.za perform accident investigations and reconstructions. Many people are not aware of the amount of information that can be collected from the accident scene or damaged vehicles. Unfortunately the available evidence on the scene or vehicle depreciate dramatically with time. So the longer you wait the less the changes of finding out what happend.

Is your vehicle safe?

Here are some tips you can use to drive safer. These tips were gathered after 11 years of accident investigations:

1. Check your tyres. Worn tyress are not only dangerous but it is the best excuse the insurance companies can get to repudiate your claim. Your tyres should have at least 1mm of tread around the whole surface of the tyre. So even if your tyre. has been worn on the side but the inside is still OK, your tyre. is not legal and if you survive a crash, the insurance will not pay you out a cent. Rather spend a couple of bucks on new tyres than loosing the value of your car.

You must also check the pressure of your tyres If you use a slightly deflated tyre., the tyre. will build up excess heat and will eventually lead to a blow out (tyre that burst). Blow outs contribute to most tyre. related accidents.

Do not use rethreaded tyres on the long road.

2. Make sure that all the lights on your vehicle is in a working condition. Remember to switch on your HEAD lights in low light condition. Remember that you do this so that other vehicles can see you. So even if you can still see you must still switch them on. I see that in Namibia motorists drive with their head lights on even during bright day light. This is excellent, it increases your visibility dramatically and will help prevent head on collisions. Remember that you are DRIVING one the road. So DO NOT switch on only the PARKING lights. The PARKING lights must be used when your vehicle is parked next to the road. That is why we call them PARKING lights. NEVER use PARKING lights while DRIVING.

3. NEVER let your children sit in front, especially not on your lap!. If they are very small, use a suitable child seat for them. NEVER let them stand between the front seats. If you are involved in a collision and they stand between the seats, they WILL shoot through the windscreen at the speed of a bullet. Their momentum will be so great that they will break your arm if you would try and hold them. (the stupid excuse most people use when they let their children stand between the seat.). I am sure you do not want to start the new year with the idea in your head that you killed your child during the holiday. So adhere to the advice above!

4. BE POLITE. In my experience most accidents are caused by rude and selfish drivers. Un-roadworthy vehicles do not kill close as much people than reckless drivers. The stupid mistakes these idiots make causes many deaths each year. Be patient. Rather arrive 3 hours later than nether.

If a reckless driver is driving on your *donkey*, do not try to spite him. Let the idiot pass and let him get away from you and your loved ones as quick as possible.

5. REST - You must not drive more than 2 hours without resting. If you become tyred your reaction time will dramatically increase. If you are fresh it will take the normal man on street about 1.5 seconds to realize that there are danger ahead and then only will he start to react on it. If you are tyred that reaction time can double. Some people think they can drive until they feel sleepy. That is not true.

Think about this: If you travel at 120Km/h you are traveling at 33.33 meters per second. So if you are fresh you will move about 50 meters after you saw the danger before you START to react on the danger. If you are tyred (not even sleepy) you can move about 100 meters before you START to react. Also keep this in mind if you are driving at night. You vehicle's lights must be able to illuminate an object 100 meters from the vehicle. So if you see danger at night at 120Km/h you will only START to react 50 meters after you saw it. That leaves you with 50 m to either stop or avoid the object. At 140Km/h that figure increase to about 60 meters with a reaction time of 1.5 seconds.

6. Obviously DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE. I do not think it really help to warn people about this because they do it anyway. So if you are dumb enough to drink and drive, good luck. I hope they put you away for the whole festive season. That is of course if you are lucky. Some people are not so lucky, they cold bloodily kill people because of their bad habits. They then sit in jail for years and they will carry the burden as murderer for the rest of their lives. So if you want to risk being a murderer, go ahead, drink drive and have fun, you deserve to sit in jail.