Stage Five: Renormalization South Africa Traffic Accidents – December 23, 1998 and September 22, 1999

Abstract

South Africa’s roads have historically been among the deadliest in the world. In 1995 there were 8,335 fatal collisions (500,233 total road traffic collisions) throughout the country, resulting in 10,256 deaths [1]. Although not all of South Africa’s road accidents constitute a disaster, as defined by the criteria presented in Chap. 2, many do. S’Bu Ndebele, Kwazulu-Natal Member for Executive Council (MEC) for Transport (cabinet at the provincial level), suggested that South Africa’s problem was founded on “passive acceptance of unacceptable and indeed criminal actions on our roads to blatant disregard for the law” [2]. Through this case study we see how a society works to address underlying vulnerabilities in the face of a recurrent series of repeated disasters, and consequently how new behaviors emerge, exemplifying stage five as discussed in Chap. 18. Because this case study examines multiple car accidents within the context of a history of frequent traffic accidents, it will not follow the same format as our previous case studies, which portrayed individual hazards located in time and space.