Transport, Roads and Public Works MEC Thandiswa Marawu today commended all Eastern Cape law enforcement agencies for stopping and screening one million vehicles since the start of the implementation of the National Rolling Enforcement Plan (NREP).
Marawu was addressing the memorial service of Western Cape road crash victims held at the University of Fort Hare in Alice.
Through NREP, the Eastern Cape law enforcement agencies are expected to stop and screen 85 000 vehicles a month.
“Since the start of the implementation of NREP in October 2010, we have stopped and screened more than one million vehicles in this province and I would like to salute all our law enforcement agencies, particularly traffic officers for this achievement. As the political leadership of the transport sector in this country, we have observed with dismay that motor vehicles have become the deadliest weapons of mass destruction in recent history,” said Marawu.
She also raised concern about the poor conditions of some of the public transport vehicles that were caught during “Operation Asihleki”. The latest NREP report shows that 12 015 public transport vehicles have been discontinued or impounded to date, which include 1910 busses and 2239 taxis.
She encouraged commuters to play a role by informing law enforcement agencies of any problems they encounter on our roads through calling our Customer Care Centre toll free number 0800 644 644.
Research shows that:
- Africa's road deaths of over 200,000 annually will rise by 80% by 2020;
- By 2015 road crashes will be the number one killer of children aged five to 14 in Africa, outstripping Malaria and HIV and AIDS.
In South Africa, road crashes result in at least 40 deaths every day, 1000 deaths every month and 14 000 a year, leaving scores injured.
Globally, road crashes account for 1.3 million deaths. The carnage is estimated to cost more than R60 billion to our domestic economy.
This means that we must act and act now!
With the launch of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011 to 2020, road safety has moved from being a national and a continental issue to being a global challenge.
“The time has come for us to build solid partnerships with everyone, including public transport operators, law enforcement agencies, business, civil society, religious community and community leaders in order to make an indelible contribution to this global campaign,” she added.
