The Road Traffic Management Corporation in partnership with the Western Cape Department of Community Safety, national Department of Education, Transnet, Road Accident Fund and BP South Africa will host the National Road Safety Debates Competition on 27 to 30 September 2010 in Cape Town, Western Cape province. The Road Safety Debate is a national programme targeted at secondary school learners and conducted in line with the world style of debating.
The alarming number of vehicle and pedestrian accidents in South Africa has fuelled this unique partnership and “we believe that initiatives like the national debating competition will go a long way in making our roads safer”, said the acting CEO of RTMC, Mr Collins Letsoalo.
Some of the topics to be discussed in this years’ competition will include the introduction of a learner license programme in schools as the solution to the driving problem in South Africa; AARTO and the demerit system as the solution to curbing lawlessness and crashes on our roads; The impact of AARTO is already being felt and driver behaviour has changed for the better in SA, Road and Rail Intersections are treated as a high priority in SA from the safety perspective, and whether the non-motorised transport is the solution to SA transport problems.
The objectives of the competition are:
- To empower learners with road safety knowledge as they have to research on road safety topics
- To enhance learners public speaking and analytical as they have to respond to points of Information
- To encourage learners to work in teams and define their roles as a collective
- To improve listening skills of learners especially in the rebuttal phase of the competition.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation has been running with the competition for the past three years and has had great success on a provincial and national level. With the partnership that we have with all nine provinces, national Department of Education, Transport Agencies together with BP, we believe that this project will reach greater heights and will re-affirm the commitment we have as a collective in making our roads safe.
For further information please contact:
Muthuhadini Madzivhandila
Cell: 071 680 3437
Tel:012 809 5200
