Members of all media houses,
Senior Officials of the Department,
Ladies and gentleman,
During the Easter period, the focus is on the safety of all road users, befittingly because it is a crucial time of the year where traffic volumes increase across the country’s roads. This year was no different with pilgrimages heading to places of worship, families heading to holiday destination and a number of entertainment events taking place drawing big crowds in attendance.
This time around, the occasion is no different as the focus extends to the outcomes of road safety initiatives that were put in place to ensure the safety of all road users.
Let me first start by saying, it is the desire of every law enforcement officials, member of the community, stakeholders and government to wish for a zero fatality rate as each and every life lost on any road is a loss to society and families affected.
Allow me to take this moment to extend my sincere condolences to the friends and families of those who lost loved ones across the country and wish those involved in accidents a speedy recovery.
Ladies and gentlemen, for the Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison it was all systems go as preparations for this busy weekend were well underway. We all know that road safety is a 365 Days Campaign but because of the high traffic volumes of this time of the year, operations and all efforts are intensified to ensure that all road users are safe and exercise caution on the roads.
The department deployed over 80 of our 134 traffic officials across the Province to mend our roads and execute traffic operations along with our road safety team in partnership with stakeholders such as the SAPS and Municipal traffics.
I must also take this opportunity to thank our traffic officials for their commitment and exceptional work during this period as they did not hesitate to leave their families during this time to focus on keeping our roads safe.
Our motorists, festival attendees and those travelling to holiday destinations and places of worship also made our efforts pleasant with their cooperation, which we appreciate. This really goes to show that, “Road Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility”.
Of course, there will be the occasional transgressors but they should not outweigh the efforts of both officials and road users.
Ladies and gentlemen, and members of the media; let me highlight that our focus areas of operations were: impaired driving (such as alcohol abuse on the roads), dangerous driving (speeding), occupant safety (non-wearing of seatbelts), vehicle safety (vehicle fitness) and pedestrian safety (poor visibility, jay-walking and intoxicated pedestrians).
From 24 – 29 March 2016, our operations yielded much success with room for improvement of course, as road safety is an ongoing exercise as we reflect on the preliminary statistics for the Easter period. Our officers stopped and checked over 385 drivers for alcohol with only 2 arrests for exceeding the legal limit.
They further arrested 6 drivers for speeding with the highest recorded speed of 179km/h on the N1 to Colesberg which is so far the highest speed recorded over the Easter period. Six (6) vehicles were discontinued on our road for not being roadworthy and 2 drivers were also arrested for falsified motor vehicle licence discs.
Meanwhile, over 350 summonses issued for various transgressions such as crossing driving without a professional driving permit and not wearing of safety belts.
Five (5) fatalities were recorded in the Province (1 pedestrian and 4 passengers), of which three passengers died in a single accidents 10km outside of Colesberg when the driver lost control of the vehicle due to unfavourable weather conditions of heavy rains in the area.
Although, we did not record a decrease in our fatalities as a Province as we worked towards zero fatalities as we have recorded 5 fatalities during this period for the past three consecutive years since 2014. However, this does not mean our efforts have been unsuccessful as we saw a decline in the number of pedestrian fatalities with only 1 pedestrian fatality this year as compared to 3 pedestrian fatalities last year.
This slight positive aspect of the reduction in pedestrian safety can be attributed to our increased road safety education initiatives which reached over 4 000 people with face to face interactions with our road safety educators leading to this period. This is in addition to platforms availed by media to deliver our road safety messages to thousands of communities across the province, again showing that with such partnerships we can reach and impact more lives.
Ladies and gentlemen, I must also highlight that we did not register any fatalities or major crashes on the R31 (Barkley West road) and N18 (Magogong crossing near Taung) which are some of our hazardous roads due to interventions done in the area.
We also had a number of cross-border operations with our neighbouring provinces such as North West, Western Cape and Free State as our focus was both on the national roads and within communities.
Let me conclude by saying, “road safety is everyone’s responsibility so let’s lets buckle up and obey the rules of the roads.”
“Together let’s take responsibility and move South Africa forward with road safety”.
I thank you.
