Introduction
A very good morning to you all and thank you for attending this media briefing on the 2010 Easter road traffic report. Firstly, I would like to convey apologies from our Minister of Transport, Minister Sibusiso Ndebele, who unfortunately is unable to be here with us today due to other important engagements.
In 63 day’s time, the world will descend on Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As Minister Ndebele has previously stated, South Africa has successfully hosted a number of major international events. No major road crashes were reported during these international events.
South Africa is a nation of sports lovers and we regularly host major local sporting events. During these local matches, thousands of our people use mainly public transport and at times travel long distances to attend matches in different provinces.
This Easter, it was evident that motorists, generally, heeded our calls to obey road rules. We have demonstrated that we are capable of behaving well on the roads. We want to commend road users for this and urge them to keep this record during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and beyond.
In the words of Minister Ndebele: "Responsible citizens do not need to be policed all the time. We want to repeat our calls to all South Africans to join us in this struggle for safer roads by simply obeying all road rules, making the safety of other road users a priority and putting Ubuntu into action on our roads".
Easter 2010 road traffic report
The 2010 Easter weekend commenced on Thursday, 1 April and ended on Monday, 5 April 2010. The largest increase in traffic was experienced on the main routes leading out of Gauteng, with the N1 north and south, the N3 towards KwaZulu-Natal and the N4 towards Mpumalanga having the highest traffic volumes.
Apart from people taking short holidays mostly to the coastal areas, migrant workers also go home to their families and members of the Zion
Christian Church (ZCC) visit Moria City in Limpopo for their annual pilgrimage. This year, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and the Telkom Knockout semi-final at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban were also hosted.
As part of its rolling enforcement plan, the Road Traffic Management
Corporation, in collaboration with provincial and municipal traffic departments, embarked on a national traffic law enforcement drive before Easter, dubbed "Operation Clean Sweep", which ran from 1 to
31 March 2010.
The aim of this operation was to serve as a pre-Easter clean up and concentrated on un-roadworthy private and public transport vehicles.
Special attention was also given to preventing crashes at hazardous locations, thus attempting to curb the fatality rate on the roads.
Roadblocks, roadside checks, patrols and awareness campaigns were conducted by various authorities during the month of March in preparation for the Easter weekend. Vehicles were stopped, searched and checked with specific emphasis placed on illegal and un-roadworthy vehicles, driver fitness as well as crime-related issues in order to sweep killer offenders off the roads before the Easter weekend.
Traffic volumes
There was an overall increase in traffic volumes at seven counting stations on national roads. The increase was from 611 554 vehicles in 2009 to 670 189 vehicles during 2010. The average increase was about 58 635 vehicles (9,59 percent). On a percentage basis, the largest increase was recorded at Groot Brak in the Western Cape, where the increase was in the order of 24,34 percent. On the N1 north, the increase was 19.86 percent at the Kranskop Toll Plaza.
Fatal crashes
During the Easter weekend (1 to 5 April 2010), 70 fatal crashes were recorded with 105 fatalities (comprising of 28 drivers, 48 passengers and 29 pedestrians), as at 7 April 2010. Six major fatal crashes were reported, resulting in 32 fatalities. These included eight people killed, nine seriously injured and two slightly injured in a head-on collision between a South African Police Service (SAPS) LDV and a minibus, between Moloto and KwaMhlanga on the R573 near Pretoria.
The life of our Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Molefi Sefularo, was lost on the N4 between Hartbeespoort dam and Pretoria in a single vehicle crash. We offer our condolences to his family and those families that have lost loved ones during the past weekend.
Enforcement
During the Easter weekend, the following significant enforcement results were achieved:
* A total of seventy-two roadblocks were mounted around the country by provincial traffic and metropolitan police departments
* More than 120 000 vehicles were stopped and checked, where 32 692 notices were issued for a variety of driver and vehicle fitness offences
* More than 215 vehicles were suspended for being un-roadworthy, of which 146 were public transport vehicles
* Six hundred and fifty four (654) motorists were arrested, of which 554 were for drunk driving, 29 for reckless and negligent driving, 11 for excessive speed, five for overloading and 55 for other offences including false documentation, resisting arrest, obstruction of justice, etc.
Our law enforcement officers were visible along all critical routes. In the Eastern Cape alone, more than 330 drivers were arrested by the provincial task team and Buffalo City municipal Traffic Department for drinking and driving. A number of drivers were arrested for travelling in excess of 180 kilometres per hour in a 120 kilometres per hour zone in Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and North West. Hundreds of vehicles were suspended in Limpopo province, Western Cape and Gauteng for not being in a roadworthy condition.
Partnerships
A lot more still needs to be done. For as long as people are dying, needlessly and senselessly on our roads, we have to accelerate our attempts at trying to find solutions. We need to find solutions that extend beyond just that of enforcement, we need to find solutions that start at young, impressionable ages and ensure that the culture of road safety is embedded in the values and psyche of our road users. To this end, in partnership with the Department of Education, we are extending road safety to schools as part of life orientation.
Community road safety councils are being established in all municipalities where communities will take ownership of road safety challenges and solutions. The national roll out of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) commenced on 1 April 2010 in Johannesburg and Tshwane and will be rolled out this year to the rest of the country.
Conclusion
Within weeks, South Africa will be playing host to what is the largest sporting event in the world. The world cup is not just about sport; it is about bringing us closer and leaving a lasting legacy for our people. Our responsibility is to ensure that we work as a team South Africa to change our mindsets from a road safety point of view so that road traffic fatalities are not seen as common occurrences over which we have become accustomed to.
Road safety has become a global challenge as 1,3 million people die each year on roads around the world. We need to place greater value on human life. Fatalities are not a numbers game. Each fatality represents the loss of a loved one, a potential doctor, engineer, teacher, a community leader and or a bread winner.
No monetary value can be attached to the emotional cost of losing a loved one. It is our collective responsibility as government, civil society and the private sector to find collective and innovative responses to the challenges in road safety. So to the majority of our road users we want to say, keep up the good behaviour.
Let me also take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to the Department of Transport, provincial departments responsible for traffic management, metro police and local traffic authorities, the South African Police Service (SAPS), other law enforcement agencies, health services, emergency services, public and private individuals and organisations and all other stakeholders for their tireless efforts during this past Easter weekend.
My thanks also go to the staff of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and Netcare 911 for their special sponsorship of the campaign. Special thanks also goes out to you, our colleagues from the various print and electronic media, for regularly supporting us by getting the important safety messages across to our road users.
I am certain that all stakeholders will continue with the sterling work and build on the positives that have emerged. As government, we will continue to provide leadership and resources to improving road safety, including developing and enforcing laws, providing safer roads, informing the public about road safety issues and fostering improvements in vehicle safety.
The full report is available at http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/docs/easter-road-stats-2010.pdf.
Working together we can do more for road safety!
Enquiries:
Ashref Ismail
Cell: 071 680 3448 or 082 826 5883
Issued by: Road Traffic Management Corporation
8 April 2010
