Programme director
Chairperson of the Transport Portfolio Committee Ms Ruth Bhengu and members of the Portfolio Committee
Gauteng Premier, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane
Members of Executive Councils (MECs)
Executive mayors
Members of Mayoral Committees
National Police Commissioner, Bheki Cele
Department of Transport Acting Director-General George Mahlalela
Chairpersons of transport agencies
CEOs of transport entities
The President of South African National Taxi Association Council (SANTACO)
Government officials
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
Introduction
In July this year, we together with other Transport Ministers from the African continent attended the international make Africa’s roads safe conference held in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. At that conference, we recommitted ourselves to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the resolutions taken at the 2007 Accra Road Safety Conference. We declared that we wanted to improve road safety and halve the number of road fatalities by the year 2015.
In November, we were honoured to attend another international conference in Moscow, Russia. This was the first Global United Nations Ministerial Conference on Road Safety. From Dar es Salaam in July to Moscow in November, road safety has now, for the first time ever, rightly so, been elevated to the urgent attention of the world.
In Russia, Ministers approved the Moscow Declaration which again calls for a "Decade of Action for Road Safety 2010 to 2020." This historic conference also agreed to hold a follow-up Ministerial Conference in five years time to review progress made. In Moscow, South Africa called for a global partnership against road deaths and for safety on our roads.
After Moscow, road safety has become an investment rather than a cost. As a nation, we all believe it can't be OK that every three minutes a child is killed on the world’s roads. As partners, we all believe that it can't be ok that as United Kingdom Transport Minister Paul Clark reminded delegates in Moscow, during the two days of the summit, 7 000 people had died on roads around the world. As partners, we believe, in equal measure, that it can't be ok for
1,3 million people to die each year on the world’s roads.
In this new national, yet global, partnership we all must never think it is ok for 20 to 50 million people to sustain severe injuries on our roads. This cannot be ok. We must rise and join this movement because road deaths are not accidents, but are avoidable and deadly incidents.
The most recent World Health Organisation (WHO) global status report on road safety calls on us to rise and meet these road safety challenges.
World Health Organisation reports that in Africa, 62 percent of accidents occur in only 10 countries.
South Africa’s traffic safety statistics show that pedestrians, particularly, are vulnerable road users and are highly exposed to traffic incidents and crashes.
We cannot continue treating road deaths as normal when we are facing death by design death by human error, death through carelessness, death through drunkenness all of which can be stopped. Almost all deaths on the road can be avoided because almost 90 percent of accidents are caused by human error. In South Africa, contributory factors for crashes and fatalities include human error (60 to 90 percent), Vehicles (15 to 30 percent), road factors (5 to 20 percent) and environmental factors (3 to 5 percent).
The reality is this: if we continue today as we did yesterday, if we continue today as if there was no urgency, if we leave things as they are, we will soon face an epidemic. In fact by 2015, it is estimated that road crashes will be the number one killer of children aged 5 to 14 in Africa, outstripping Malaria and HIV and AIDS. That is if we choose to do nothing!
Moving beyond statistics
We could choose to do nothing, or each one of our 8,2 million drivers could decide today to reverse the trend of road deaths. On the other hand, we could choose to do something, all 49 million of us, and drive towards a saving of R56 billion which we are spending in road crash-related costs.
To appreciate this challenge, we must move beyond statistics. We must remember that road deaths deprive children of parents; road deaths deprive parents of their children who die before their time. The economy is deprived of healthy, skilled individuals simply because of an accident which could have been prevented. It takes one taxi accident to deprive a country of a student, a soccer player, a teacher, artisans, driver and children who are yet to fulfil their dreams and the hopes of a nation. It takes one human error to wipe out three to four generations of a family! Is this a cost we can bear?
Engineering; enforcemement; education road safety through infrastructure
In many instances, poor road infrastructure contributes to an increase in accidents. To this end, our road agency, the South African National Road Agency Limited (SANRAL), is implementing a road safety management system. The system is aimed at safety considerations to direct decisions on design, construction, maintenance, operation and management of our road network. This broad approach also includes education and enforcement.
Education targeting young people
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is also engaging communities residing adjacent to national and rural roads on safety precautions. Through education, we are targeting children and youth who are most vulnerable, through scholar patrols and other initiatives.
Research shows that children between the ages of one and six years learn all future behaviour. Therefore, pre-school and repetitive education during ages 6 to 15 should be part of our national strategy.
We are also embarking on training learners to drive by the time they finish high school. Together with the Departments of Basic Education and Higher Education, we want to inculcate a new culture in these new drivers before they learn bad driving habits.
Road safety through legislation
A recent WHO report on road safety in South Africa shows that we have sound legislation in place for the wearing of seat-belts, drunken driving and setting speed limits, among others. The fact that more than 90 percent of all road accidents are preceded by a road traffic violation makes the improvement of road-user perceptions, attitudes and behaviour a matter of urgency. Dealing with non-compliance and the finalization of offences and traffic infringements remains a priority.
Introducing Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO):
* In 2010, we will launch the Administrative Adjudication of Road
Traffic Offences (AARTO)
* Under AARTO, a driver is given the opportunity to voluntarily surrender his licence by continuously breaking the law
* Every person starts with 0 points and the maximum permissible number of points is 12
* A person is allowed to drive until he/she has 12 points.
Every point exceeding 12 points results in a three-month suspension of the licence. One point is reduced every three months if no further contraventions occur within the three-month period. So after three months of no offences, a driver can correct their behaviour by not offending, for that we reward them by reducing the points against their licence.
A licence is however cancelled when it has been suspended for the third time. Demerit points recorded against a driver in the national contraventions register will decrease by one point every three months during which no demerit points were incurred. We believe that eventually AARTO will change behaviour.
2009/10 festive season road safety plan
The 2009/10 festive season traffic law enforcement plan has been compiled by the RTMC Coordinating Committee which consists of representatives of law enforcement agencies from national, provincial and local government. Our road safety plan this year is:
* based on a detailed analysis of last year’s fatal crash report and is in line with the priorities of the national road safety strategy
* supported by the road safety promotion/education/communication components and various levels of government in order to amplify our road safety programme
* a partnership with the private sector and civil society because road safety is not only government’s responsibility.
Our enforcement officers all over the country will stop and check no less than one million vehicles and drivers as of 1 December 2009 to 31 January 2010. This will be done through roadblocks, roadside checkpoints, patrols, speed monitoring and road safety awareness campaigns. There will be zero tolerance for all traffic offences.
Special focus will be placed on pedestrian jaywalking; drinking and walking and pedestrians on freeways; speeding; drinking and driving; moving violations such as unsafe overtaking; use of cell phones whilst driving; red light infringements and reckless and negligent driving; driver fitness, vehicle roadworthiness, especially taxis and buses; overloading, both passengers and goods and wearing of seatbelts.
We will focus on mass movement of vehicles along main arterial routes to different provinces after industries close as well as for holiday shopping. We will intensify enforcement on overloading of passengers especially bakkies, mini-bus taxis and buses. All public transport operators and drivers must ensure that their vehicles are roadworthy and they do not put the lives of innocent commuters at risk. We urge all drivers to stop and take a break every two hours or 200 kilometres or have relief drivers.
With regards to drinking and driving, we have partnered with the private sector to ensure that you are able to test your own alcohol levels before driving through purchasing a disposable alcohol breathalyzer which will be on sale at all Engen garages. We hope to have these disposable breathalysers also available at other outlets in the near future.
I want to thank all law enforcement officers who will be away from their families, working all out this festive season, to ensure our safety on the roads. Your dedication and commitment is highly appreciated.
May I also take this opportunity to extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones on the roads. We commit ourselves on behalf of the voiceless:
* To recognise that traffic danger has a significant impact on people’s quality of life, restricting movement through fear, especially for children and the elderly
* To consider traffic danger related injuries and mobility as a public health and human rights issue, including for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, who require special attention
* To commit to using more appropriate and correct terminology such as Crash, Collision, or Casualty instead of “Accident”, in order to change the public mind-set
* We know that change doesn't happen, it is propelled by men and women whose spirits are provoked and inspired to make a difference.
2010 World Cup
In closing, we are now only six months away from the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the biggest sporting event in the world! The December holidays are also upon us.
Let us use this festive spirit of the holidays and the Soccer World Cup to cement safer roads, to save lives and to kick road deaths out of our lives. Let it start with you, soon it will become a matter for all of us in South Africa and the rest of the world.
Thank you!
Issued by: Department of Transport
6 December 2009
Source: Sapa
