63% of vehicles failed a free inspection of safety-critical components

UNROADWORTHY vehicles are a significant contributor to South Africa's unacceptably high accident rate, with some sources indicating that the condition of vehicles is a factor in up to 15% of crashes.

- JASON WOOSEY

With about 13000 road deaths recorded on our roads annually, South Africans should be paying far greater attention to the condition of their vehicles, particularly in the run-up to the December holidays.

The Retail Motor Industry (RMI) notes that not only was there a disappointing turnout during its recent campaign, which offered free safety checks at dozens of its accredited testing stations across the country, but the failure rate was alarmingly high.