A significant source of these costs are road-based accidents and fatalities. But MSA forecasts suggest that, if left unchecked, the primary problem in 2020 will be urban environmental degradation and congestion, largely resulting from an inexorable increase in the tendency to own and use cars in South Africa. Both of these groups rated safety at or near the top of customer needs. In the urban customer group, especially, the threat of unsafe transport registered as a source of dissatisfaction with the system. Tourism passengers, in contrast, rated safety high as a potential deterrent to visiting South Africa.
Road safety imposes enormous costs on society, making the transport system inherently unsustainable.
The total cost of all road accident to society reached almost R12 billion. This destabilises the long-term sustainability of transport and depresses usage levels through fear of poor safety. Although government has made some consistent efforts to address the safety problems in the areas of education and awareness, progress has been curtailed by a highly fragmented enforcement system. 485 separate governmental entities hold some responsibility for enforcement on the roads, but use different standards for fines, speed limits, or heavy vehicle checking. One example of this is the historic mechanism for funding the Road Accident Fund, which has been financed by a portion of the fuel tax, regardless of the payer's driving record or of whether the payer is even using the road network at all.