Every year during Easter and December, fatal and serious injuries on our roads take centre stage. This would only be stopped if South Africans worked together to stop the carnage by simply obeying all road rules, making the safety of other road users a priority and spreading the spirit of ubuntu. To stop the ongoing carnage, people need to unite to stop road deaths.
This was the call from Minister of Transport, Sibusiso Ndebele, during the launch of the Arrive Alive Easter Road Safety Campaign in Limpopo yesterday, 29 March. The minister pointed out that Easter was one of the most challenging times for road safety authorities countrywide. Each year more than one million people travelled from all parts of the country to Moria as part of the Zion Christian Church’s annual pilgrimage of moral renewal and rededication. Thousands also headed for the KwaZulu-Natal coast and other major holiday destinations across South Africa.
“As government, we vow that this year’s Arrive Alive Campaign marks the start of a renewed commitment to reducing the current number of 40 deaths and over 140 serious injuries on our roads every day. This death and destruction not only causes enormous pain and suffering to the victims and their families but also costs our economy an estimated R56 billion each year.”
The minister said that, this Easter, the N1 towards Polokwane, especially the route to Moria City and to Beit Bridge, the N3 to Durban as well as the N1 to the Free State, Western Cape and Eastern Cape will be heavily policed. In Mpumalanga on the N4, heavy traffic was expected and there will be strong and visible policing.
The minister said although the road safety strategy had achieved some success road deaths, per 100 million vehicle kilometres travelled had dropped during the festive season one death was one too many.
“It does not matter whether this year fewer people die, not a single person must be killed on our roads. When we lose a high school student in a taxi crash, we do not just lose a high school learner, we lose a doctor, a potential engineer or even a priest. So, in one crash we lose a doctor who could have been a healer of thousands, who could have prolonged the lives of others, an engineer who could build bridges. Indeed, in one crash, we could lose a priest, someone who could have become our country’s moral compass.”
He pointed out that even though ubuntu would go a long way to solving South Africa’s road safety problems, it was a sad reality that more than 90 percent of road deaths followed a traffic violation. “We welcome the R70 000 fines imposed on 25 March on a KwaZulu-Natal motorist who had been arrested for travelling at 252 km/h, driving under the influence of alcohol and failing to stop. We want to commend the Scottburgh Magistrate who handed down the maximum sentence in terms of the Road Traffic Act. This sentence, with the suspension of his driving licence, should serve as a benchmark for similar offences in our country.”
The minister called on all law enforcement agencies to work together to strengthen the objectives of the national rolling enforcement plan which aimed to reduce crashes, fatalities and injuries by increasing visible and effective policing in hazardous locations together with increasing pedestrian safety and prosecuting critical offences.
“We need to restore confidence in the road traffic management fraternity. The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), together with the provincial authorities and organised labour must finalise the declaration of traffic law enforcement as an essential service and finalise the formation of a national traffic law enforcement unit to augment road enforcement capacity.”
He added that the RTMC, together with the South African National Roads Agency, would employ 240 traffic officers, who would be specifically deployed on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Scheme’s Open Toll Road. The minister explained that this year marked a break in the approach to road safety. It would no longer be government’s sole responsibility to ensure safety, but would centre on a strong partnership between all stakeholders authorities, the community, individuals and business. He said the formation of community road safety councils that would work towards improving traffic enforcement as well as voluntary compliance to road traffic rules at local and district levels was progressing well.
“Responsible citizens do not need to be policed all the time. In 73 days' time, South Africa hosts the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Road safety has become a global concern. As we welcome the world, it is our responsibility to ensure that the millions who will use our roads and other transport infrastructure during the World Cup and beyond do so under world safety standards,” he said.
Enquiries:
Logan Maistry
Cell: 083 6444 050
Issued by: Department of Transport
30 March 2010
