Road safety in South Africa is set to receive a major boost with the introduction of the first National Traffic Intervention Unit.
Given the high number of road deaths in the country, Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele last year committed to the establishment of a specialised National Intervention Unit (NIU) to bolster operations and interventions of existing traffic law enforcement agencies in dealing with, particularly, high accident frequency locations. During the past nine months, 231 Traffic Officers, who form part of the first batch of recruits for the NIU, underwent specialised training at the Tshwane Metro Police Academy and Boekenhoutskloof Traffic Training College in Pretoria.
Minister Ndebele will deliver the keynote address at the passing-out-parade for these 231 Traffic Officers.
Details of the event are as follows:
Date: 29 March 2011 (Tuesday)
Time: 09h30 for 10h00
Venue: Pilditch Stadium, Pretoria West
This passing-out-parade takes place just weeks before the Easter long weekend, as well as the launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 to be commemorated world-wide during May 2011.
In addition to the compulsory six month traffic officer's training, members of the NIU also received training in various other courses including first aid, interpersonal communications, defensive driving, anti-corruption, ethics, dealing with people with diplomatic immunity and incident management.
The NIU, under the command of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), will engage in joint operations with various law enforcement agencies such as provincial traffic, municipal/metro police, Sotuh African Police Service (SAPS), Cross Border Transport Agency, Military Police, South African Revenue Service (SARS), Immigration and Environmental Affairs to empower, share and transfer skills.
The unit will also assist to stabilise identified locations through special blitz/sting operations, and will be deployed across the country as and when required either at the invitation of a specific law enforcement agency or as a result of national deployment.
The NIU will utilise state-of-the-art equipment including breathalysers with drug detection devices, number plate recognition equipment, mobile violation recorders and speed-timing equipment.
All media are invited to attend.
Journalists must confirm attendance by no later than 14h00 today, Monday, 28 March 2011 with Mthunzikazi Mbungwana on 012 309 3960 or MbungwaM@dot.gov.za or Sello Tshipi on 012 309 3846 or TshipiA@dot.gov.za.
Enquiries:
Logan Maistry
Cell: 083 6444 050
Source: SAPA
