As part of its concerted efforts to reduce road carnages The Eastern Cape Department of Transport joined the Amathole District Municipality Moral Generation Movement, Emergency and Rescue Services to hold an N6 road accidents prayer and cleansing ceremony at the Rockland Community Field in Cathcart on 29 March 2012.
This initiative which seeks to help reduce road accidents in the Eastern Cape province will go a long way in repositioning the province and its contribution in the Decade of Action Campaign for Road Safety 2011 to 2020, which is a United Nations campaign that seeks to make road safety a global agenda.
The Decade of Action Campaign provides an opportunity for long-term and coordinated activities in support of the national and local road safety initiatives because:
1. 15 000 lives are lost on SA roads annually
2. Road users consume alcohol on the roads
3. Motorists commit moving violations
4. Road users ignore seatbelts
5. Majority of Motorists do not buckle up
6. Un-roadworthy vehicles are a problem in South Africa
7. Majority of the Motorists do not adhere to speed limits in South Africa
8. Jay walking is a problem in South Africa
9. The country spend billions on road crashes
10. Road crashes are preventable
The purpose of the day was to call upon the Almighty and to implore for His divine intervention as there is still belief that God will help us to emerge with a lasting solution to the scourge of road carnage in this province and ask him to give the law enforcement agencies courage to ensure the following:
- Actively promote traffic safety, order and mobility.
- Eliminate losses of life, limb and property on our roads.
- Engender community support for our cause.
“As we pray let us be mindful of the threats that we have as we start this campaign, which include: Weather conditions, road conditions, stray animals, road closures (hazardous substances), motorist behaviour, aggression, speed, drunken driving, criminal elements”, said MEC Marawu.
“Let us continue to pray for our traffic officers and other law enforcement agencies as they will be all out on the roads until the end of Easter Holidays in an effort to conduct high visibility patrols, provide an efficient emergency and law enforcement response service and to intensify our operations at all fronts”, added Marawu.
The department’s contingent of 1 123 provincial and municipal traffic officers is playing its role through the implementation of the National Rolling Enforcement Plan, which is locally known as Operation Asihleki. They are expected to stop and screen 85 000 vehicles per month. Each officer is expected to stop and check a minimum of 15 vehicles per eight-hour shift and send a strong warning to road users that they have adopted a zero tolerance approach on our roads.
Between April 2011 and February 2012, these traffic officers have stopped and screened a total of 965 104 vehicles on Eastern Cape roads and I salute them for this achievement.
The time has come, solid partnerships must be built 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, thus “making road safety everybody’s responsibility.
