Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele has been chosen as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Road Safety Champion.
Minister Ndebele’s nomination as Regional Champion for Road Safety was approved at a meeting of the Committee of Ministers responsible for Transport and Meteorology from SADC held on Friday, 7 October at Centurion in Pretoria.
The main purpose of the meeting was to review progress in the implementation of the transport and meteorology programmes and projects as espoused by the SADC Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology. Ministers also launched the SADC Decade of Action for Road Safety in support of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, and approved the Draft SADC Road Safety Awareness Campaign Strategy and Action Plan 2011-2014.
Addressing the meeting, Minister Ndebele said: “In countries in Africa, up to half of all hospital surgical beds are occupied by patients injured on roads. Africa has the highest road injury fatality rate of all World Health Organisation regions, at 28.3 per 100 000 population. In addition to the health impacts, traffic crashes come at a high cost to African countries. These deaths are a massive burden to our society.
“The launch of the SADC Decade of Action for Road Safety is a clarion call for the SADC region and the African Continent to heed the UN call to halve traffic fatalities by 2020. Over 1.3 million people die every year on the world's roads, and 50 million more are injured. Road crashes are the number one killer of young people world-wide. The human cost is profound – resulting in unimaginable suffering and grief. The economic cost is a staggering 100 billion US dollars a year in developing countries alone. These are grim statistics.
“The Decade of Action for Road Safety is our chance to save lives: each of us has a role to play in preventing deaths and injuries on the road. Let us all work together to make sure the world's roads are safe. If we lead by example, we can save millions and millions of lives,” said the Minister.
To address these challenges in South Africa, Minister Ndebele alluded to various measures being implemented. “We have proposed the implementation of a Graduate Licensing System, comprising of three stages namely a learner’s permit, intermediate (provisional or probationary) licence, followed by a full licence.
“As part of Operation Tshwara Setagwa (Arrest the Drunkard), each traffic officer will arrest one drunkard per month which theoretically means that we should arrest a minimum of 10 000 drunk drivers every month. Arrests will include drunk pedestrians. A concerted effort is being undertaken with regards to dangerous driving. Motorists will be arrested for excessive speeding, reckless and negligent driving and barrier line infringement.
“Public passenger transport enforcement will continue and drivers who do not comply with permit requirements, who are guilty of gross overloading and operate vehicles that un-roadworthy, will be arrested.
“Research has proven conclusively that if we can increase the seatbelt wearing rate by 80% for both front and rear passengers, there is a potential to reduce fatalities by 25-30%. We are therefore calling on all South Africans to buckle up at all times. Seatbelts save lives. It will not prevent one from having a crash, but it will certainly reduce death or serious injury by 50%.
“Distracted driving, particularly in urban areas, is becoming a huge problem: motorists are seen daily talking on their cell phones, and now even texting, while driving. Talking while driving increases your chances of being involved in a crash by four times. Texting while driving is far more dangerous.
“The Lights-on campaign will be accelerated, and all motorists are urged to drive with their headlamps on during the day. All road users must report bad driving to the National Traffic Call Centre on 0861 400 800,” Minister Ndebele said.
Meanwhile, over the week-end two mini-bus taxi crashes on the N2 in Mpumalanga claimed the lives of 12 people and left 11 others injured, according to reports from the Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison Department.
On Friday night (7 October), four people died when a taxi collided with a truck that was making a u-turn on the freeway near Ermelo. Six people were seriously injured and taken to the Piet Retief Hospital. The truck driver initially ran away after the accident, but later handed himself over to police.
On Saturday morning, 8 October, eight people were killed when a taxi overturned after one of its tyres burst. Five people were seriously injured and taken to Ermelo hospital.
As part of the National Rolling Enforcement Plan (NREP), on Friday, 7 October on the N14 at Diepsloot near Pretoria more than 780 drivers and vehicles were checked and more than 460 fines issued for various traffic offences.
On Thursday (6 October), three Tshwane metro police officers were arrested for driving in a car with false registration plates. The three metro police officers, in full uniform, were pulled over in a private vehicle during an operation on a major arterial route outside Pretoria. The number plates on their vehicle were screened using the automated number plate recognition system, and found to be false. When asked to explain this, the officers said they were working undercover. Enquiries were made and this was found to be untrue. They were stripped of their name-shields and weapons and detained at a nearby police station. In the first 12 hours of this operation, 300 vehicles were inspected and 134 notices issued for traffic violations.
Last month, September 2011 more than 1,500 un-roadworthy buses and taxis were taken off South Africa's roads, following Minister Ndebele's instruction on 31 August that every bus and taxi must be stopped and checked. From 31 August to 25 September 2011, 194,962 public transport vehicles were stopped and checked; 783 mini-buses, 501 buses, 210 scholar transport vehicles and 253 trucks discontinued from use; 39,934 fines issued for various public transport offences; more than 825 public transport drivers arrested including 168 for drunk driving, 552 for overloading, 55 for excessive speed, 17 for reckless and/or negligent driving and 88 in connection with public transport permits.
As part of the new NREP announced by Minister Ndebele on 10 September 2010, from October 2010 to August 2011, 12,984,120 vehicles and drivers were checked, 5,540,275 fines issued for various traffic offences, 18,527 drunk drivers arrested and 50,272 un-roadworthy vehicles (the majority of which are buses and taxis) discontinued from use.
Enquiries:
Logan Maistry
Cell: 083 6444 050
