Why South Africa's roads are among the most dangerous in the world

702 and CapeTalk’s Africa Melane speaks with Lucky Molaudzi, General Manager for Road Safety Partnership South Africa.

Listen below:

A combination of low seatbelt use, reckless driving, and alcohol-related crashes makes our roads deadly.

For the second year in a row, South Africa has ranked as the most dangerous country to drive in.

Statistics show that only 31% of South Africans wear a seatbelt when sitting in the front of a vehicle.

Not wearing a seatbelt greatly increases the risk of serious injury or death in an accident.

South Africa sees 24.5 road deaths per 100,000 people.

“Most young people between the age of 18 and 24 consider wearing a seatbelt uncool.”

- Lucky Molaudzi, Road Safety Partnership South Africa

RELATED: 96% of children hospitalised after accidents were not wearing seatbelts

Molaudzi says this problem is exacerbated by the fact that our mini-bus taxis and busses do not have seatbelts.

He adds that the laws of the road, such as no drinking and driving, are not properly enforced which contributes to poor driver behaviour.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.