On Thursday, 29 November 2012, the Western Cape Provincial Road Traffic Act was passed by the Provincial Legislature.
Whilst much of the new act is largely administrative, it empowers the provincial Minister of Transport to regulate certain matters to increase road safety in the province.
“I can now carry out investigations at any Vehicle or Drivers Licence Testing station without requiring permission from National Department of Transport. This will greatly assist in dealing with corruption and jailing the offenders” said Minister Carlisle.
“By January 2013, I will publish conditions for use of blue lights in the province, restricting such use to emergencies. I will also issue a regulation requiring all vehicles overtaking cyclists, to ensure that there is a safe distance of at least 1.5meters between them before passing. This will be accompanied by law enforcement actions against cyclists who do not ride in single file, or who fail to stop at red robots or stop streets. Whilst we have reduced annual, cyclist deaths in the province from 57 in 2008 to 35 in 2011 (reduction of 39%), this figure is still too high,” added Carlisle.
The new act becomes part of the arsenal of weapons employed by the Western Cape government in its Safely Home campaign to end road carnage, and cut the death rate by half by 2014.
“I was thus very surprised when the African National Congress (ANC) formally voted against the Act on Thursday, claiming that it was ‘apartheid’ legislation which favoured Whites. Death on the roads knows neither colour nor class nor ethnicity. It also does not recognise party affiliation.
“The opposition to the act was led by Hon Chris Stali, Mr Marius Fransman’s leader in the Legislature.
“I am sure that most other ANC members in the house were as disgusted as I was by this shameful vote,” added Carlisle.
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