Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele will deliver the keynote address at the Traffic Chiefs' Summit on Friday, 10 September 2010.
The details of the event are as follows:
Date: Friday, 10 September 2010
Venue: Birchwood Hotel, Boksburg, Gauteng
Time: 09h00 for 09h30
As part of the summit, the minister will also launch South Africa's "Make our roads safe" signature campaign. The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) will collect at least one million signatures pledging commitment to safer roads in the country.
On 25 August 2010 ten children were killed in a horrific accident at Blackheath near Cape Town. Such an incident forces us to ask if we can entrust the future in the hands of the current crop of drivers.
As we head towards December, road crashes continue to claim thousands of lives in South Africa and a collective effort on attitude and behavioural change by all South Africans will play a pivotal role in reducing the carnage.
To stem the tide of high-and-low fluctuating road crashes, strategic responses are required which will result in interventions that have a rich strategic content and to avoid kneejerk reactions as well as unstructured piecemeal interventions.
The current traffic law enforcement system in South Africa is ineffective, and if we want to stop counting bodies every year we have to change it. The system involves issuing of traffic fines with an option of going to court.
Our courts are already overburdened with many criminal cases and traffic offences are not prioritised by the justice system. Courts are inundated with criminal cases such as rape, murder and robberies. This has put further strain on our court resources resulting in traffic offences during 2008 only being heard in October 2010 and 2011. This is made worse by the blatant lawlessness on our roads.
Government is taking control of and managing this situation through road safety education, engineering, enforcement and evaluation.
Effective and efficient implementation of the national Rolling Enforcement Plan is of critical importance. To this end, Minister Ndebele will address Traffic Chiefs from various parts of South Africa on 10 September 2010.
All media are invited to attend. Journalists attending must confirm attendance by no later than 12h00 on Thursday, 9 September 2010, with Sello Tshipi on 073 498 6722/TshipiA@dot.gov.za or Mthunzi Mbungwa on 072 645 1792/MubngwaM@dot.gov.za.
Enquiries:
Logan Maistry
Cell: 083 644 4050
