Minister Dipuo Peters: Festive season road safety report and statistics

MEC Willies Mchunu (KZN)
MEC Mapula Mokaba-Phukwana (LI)
MEC Butana Komphela (FS)
MEC Vusi Shongwe (MP)
MEC Weziwe Tikana (EC)
MEC Saliva Molapisi (NW)
CEOs of Transport Agencies
Adv. Makhosini Msibi
RTIA Registrar Mr. Japh Chuwe
SANRAL CEO Mr. Nazir Ali
RTMC Board Chairman Mr. Zola Majavu
DDG responsible for Roads Mr. Chris Hlabisa
HODs here in present
Officials from the Department
Members of all media houses
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

We all looked forward to the Festive Season with excitement, great expectations and the dawn of the New Year with its new beginnings.

The Festive Season has offered us an opportunity to enjoy quality time with our loved ones and reflect on the year “that was” but simultaneously to relax and recharge in order to meaningfully participate and make South Africa a better and safer place to be.

Inspired by the hope of a better, prosperous and safe South Africa we all travelled the length and breadth of the country assured of our safe return, free from injury, death and or any pain or loss caused by fellow road users.

Our hard earned democracy conferred the sacred right to all South Africans, right to life, as enshrined in our constitution.  However our behavior and conduct on the roads is inconsistent and incongruent to this sanctified right.

It is unfortunate that some of our road users could not live to see their cherished dreams unfold, as their lives were cut short by irresponsible and unpatriotic conduct in the usage of our roads.

It is with great pain and remorse that I restate what I said a week ago.

“Road traffic fatalities are amongst the main causes of death in South Africa. This results in serious social and economic costs for the country. These consequences include the loss of family members who are bread winners and leave behind traumatized families. The economic ramifications include the increase in the social development and health budgets spent”.

On behalf of the Government of South Africa and in particular transport family we send our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the families of those that died on our roads and those families that are still in mourning due to the senseless killings of their loved ones. Those that are recuperating in hospitals we wish them a speedy recovery.

As we announced the road crashes and fatalities the previous week spanning the period from 1^st to 23^rd of December 2014, we took solace and comfort in the realization of the declining numbers. This to a greater extent demonstrated a positive indication and unflinching willingness by some South Africans to heed our clarion call and together make our roads safe. We wish to applaud those patriotic compatriots for having taking the interest of the country at heart.

Our resilience and combat readiness fortified our determination to steadfastly roll out our road safety programmes, focusing on road safety education, road infrastructure engineering, law enforcement and evaluation of the impact of our intervention throughout the 3-6-5 days.

This determination dovetails well with our country’s commitment to the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety.

We will continue unabated in inculcating a culture of road safety awareness and taking responsibility for road usage partnering with our provinces as the major key role players, all stakeholders amongst others the Youth Formations, Interfaith Community, Road Freight Associations, Taxi Industry, Association for taverns, liquor authorities and NGOs and CBOs to mention a few.

As the transport family, we approach the period spanning 1^st to 28^th December 2014 with mixed feeling and trepidation, but we are equally positive that the future will bring hope, improved change of attitude and better behavior on our roads.

In the period mentioned above, we have registered 924 fatal crashes with 1143 fatalities whilst last year during the same period under review we registered 974 fatal crashes with 1168 fatalities. This demonstrates a reduction of 50 fatal crashes and 25 fatalities.

These figures tell a very unpleasant and discouraging story about our human conduct in the usage of our roads. The national picture depicts that 31% of fatal crashes occurred between 22h00 and 06h00 in the morning and very concerning is the fact that 80% of these crashes occurred in residential and or built-up areas.

Surely these are the fatal crashes and fatalities that could have been avoided had we celebrated and behaved in the most responsible way.

Despite our robust and laudable efforts to urge our road users not to drink and drive, not to speed and not to drink and walk, road users still remained adamant and recalcitrant in their behavior. This is evident from the fact that we issued 99 060 summons for exceeding the speed limit, 415 arrests for excessive speeding with the highest speed recorded being 265km/h.

The substance abuse in particular drunken driving remains a major challenge, and during the period under review we arrested 904 drivers who were driving under the influence of alcohol and had exceeded the required limit.

The unprecedented fatal crashes and fatalities  in the period 22h00 to 06h00 is a clear indictment on the compulsory implementation of the 24/7 law enforcement operations. We will accelerate the engagement with the labour movements to finalise this outstanding matter pertinent to the basic conditions of employment of Traffic Law Enforcement.

We will upscale of efforts to work and partner with the youth in rolling out our road safety programmes. We will also leave no stone unturned in partnering and urging the owners of liquor outlets especially in residential areas to work and collaborate in ensuring that their patrons are safe and do not become statistics.

We are on the eve of the New Year where after our fellow South Africans will soon be embarking on their return journeys, some will be going back to work and schools are due to re-open. I therefore wish to make an impassioned plea to all our road users to be vigilant and take precautions.

We urge you to undertake the following as you use our roads:

• Ensure that your vehicle is road worthy
• Take regular breaks
• Adhere to the speed limit
• Do not cross the road when it not safe to do so
• Do not drink and drive
• Do not drink and walk

Remember only fools and idiots drink and drive, speed, don’t buckle up, drive recklessly, do not use child restraints and drink and walk, and use cellphones while driving. We all can only live just but once. Let us all protect our lives, our families and use our roads responsibly.

May I take the opportunity to wish everybody a Prosperous New Year. Let us all continue to be ambassadors of Road Safety. Together lets save lives and take South Africa forward.

Thank you!

Annexure A

Table 1: Number of Fatal crashes and fatalities per province for the period 1 – 28 December 2014

Table 2: Number of summons issued and Arrests per province for the period  1 – 28 December 2014