The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is proposing a numberof amendments to the laws that govern driving on public roads in South Africa, including making it mandatory for drivers to be retested every 5 years…

It's widely agreed that the South African road rules and testing methods need to be extensively overhauled to help reduce the alarming number of road accidents that occur each year. The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) thinks it can alleviate some of the carnage by changing some of the laws that pertain todriving and testing driver competence. Here a few of the proposals that the RTMC will submit to Government:

A driverwill need to be retested every 5 years when they renew their license.A recently qualified motoristmay not take long road trips in their first year of driving (more than 150 km).A newly-licenced drivermust be accompanied by an experienced driver for the first 6 months.There will be additionaltesting for taxi-, bus- and truck drivers.A driverwill not be allowed to apply for a heavy-truck license unless they already have a car license.

There arealso talks of completely overhauling the often-criticised K53 driving test. The K53 is essentially a copy of the British testing system that was implemented in the 80s, and it's in dire need of a revamp, to say the very least… The rules are outdated for modern vehicles (such as constant blind-spot checking, engaging the handbrake excessively), while evils such as ignorance of traffic-circle rules and "under-taking" need to be addressed.

At this stage, everything is still under discussion and finalised proposals will need to be published in the Government Gazette.

Good in principle, but…

We'vegiven the RTMC's proposals thorough consideration…and we anticipate there'll be a few issues that may hamper their implementation. For one, aretest every 5 years seems like a costly logistical nightmare. In the UK, pensioners (over 70) are tested more frequently (every 3 years) to assess their reactions, as well as screen for health conditionsthat could impair their driving ability.This seems like a more feasible solution locally.

Newer drivers that are required to have experienced drivers alongside them for longer journeys is another system the UK has effectively put into place. It has shown promising results but seems to point fingers at a driving test that doesn't qualify capable drivers.

Additional testing for taxi and truck drivers can only be a positive thing, as they carry the lives of much of South Africa's workforce on a daily basis.

These proposed new rules come in the wake of another tumultuous festive season, where the 2018/19 road death toll increased to 1 612 (from 1 527 the previous year). Human factors accounted for 90% of those road deaths.

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