T Mhlahlo: 2005/06 Festive Season road accidents victims' memorial
service

13 January 2005

Let me first convey my message of condolence on behalf of the Department of
Roads and Transport in the Eastern Cape for the sad loss that you have
experienced during the 2005/06 festive season. I would like to further wish a
speedy recovery to all those who are still groaning in pain in various
hospitals because of injuries sustained during road accidents.

Today we are here to pay tribute to all the people, who lost their lives on
the roads of the Eastern Cape Province and those who died on other provinces,
while on their way back home to this province. Although there had been a
decrease in terms of road accidents in the province, we had an increase in
terms of fatalities. During the ending season we had 227 accidents and this
reflects a minimal decrease from last year’s 240 road accidents in the Eastern
Cape.

In these accidents, we lost more than 150 souls, excluding the 21 who passed
away in Free State. This challenge facing our road users is against the
backdrop of an ever increasing vehicle population, which has increased by 477
205 (6.38%) from 7 43 871 to 7 951 076 nationally. The number of new drivers
rose by 779 000 from 6 711 333 to 7 490 333. The situation could have been far
worse without the dedicated efforts of traffic authorities, although we admit
that more still needs to be done.

The ending festive season saw our Arrive Alive Campaign’s multi-disciplinary
“Zero Tolerance” approach paying dividends with more misbehaving motorists
getting punished for the actions that put lives of traffic law-abiding citizens
in danger. Since the intensification of our Arrive Alive Campaign on 1 December
2005 - 165 roadblocks have been held;16 169 summonses were issued; 212
cellphone violations were recorded; 1 375 moving violations (i.e. crossing
barrier lines, overtaking etc.) were recorded; 2 475 drivers were caught
driving without licenses; 1 712 vehicles have been found unlicensed; 305
vehicles were discontinued from use; 3 403 drivers were caught exceeding the
speed limit and the highest speed recorded was 174km per hour in a 120 speed
limit area. This occurred on the N2 in Greenbushes near Port Elizabeth and the
driver was fined R1000.

The highest fine for speeding this season is R1700 and it was recorded in
the Chris Hani District, where a driver was caught speeding at 166km per hour
in a 120 speed limit area on the N6, 479 stray animals have been impounded
through the use of the department’s six stray animal trucks. Members of the
public have been using our toll free number 0800 644 644 to report stray
animals. I would like to appeal to the communities of the Eastern Cape to
assist government in combating theft of road fence, which has been another
contributing factor on the increasing number of fatalities on our roads.

We further encourage all road users to continue informing our provincial
Information Centre through this toll free number about any bad behaviour on our
roads. Honourable Premier, our analysis has revealed that most accidents are
preceded by offences such as ignoring road signs, drunken driving, excessive
speeding, vehicles cutting in front of others, driving defective vehicles and
fatigue – which caused a high number of overturned vehicles. I believe that we
need to continue to strengthen our traffic law education and enforcement
programmes. I would like to commend the good work done by our law enforcement
agencies (provincial and municipal traffic officers, South African Police
Service (SAPS) & South African National Defence Force (SANDF)), who worked
24 hours a day in hot and rainy conditions in a quest to provide a safe
passage. I would like to further express my gratitude to the law enforcement
agencies from our neighbouring provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and
Western Cape, who held joint roadblocks with the Eastern Cape law enforcement
agencies.

Today, we have in our midst the Director of Traffic Management from Free
State, Mr Sease. His presence demonstrates the good working relationship that
we have as the two provinces. We remain committed to provide a safe passage for
all road users in our province and we would like to encourage drivers,
especially public transport operators to assist this initiative by constantly
checking the conditions of their vehicles before taking long trips, avoiding to
travel during awkward times, ensuring that long distance trips have at least
two drivers to avoid fatigue.

Honourable Premier, today we also have in our midst officials from the Road
Accident Fund (RAF), Department of Social Development and the Department of
Home Affairs to assist the bereaved families. We want to make sure that we
provide the necessary support to our people.

I thank you.

Issued by: Office of the MEC for Safety, Liaison, Roads and Transport,
Eastern Cape Provincial Government
13 January 2005
Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ecprov.gov.za/)