Western Cape MEC for Transport and Public Works, Mr Robin
Carlisle; CEO of South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL), Mr Nazir Alli
Representative of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tami Toroyan
MRC - University of South Africa (UNISA) representative, Mr Hilton Donson
PIARC Representatives
Members of the media
Distinguished guests
More than twenty people were killed on our country's roads over the past two days alone (Saturday and Sunday, 24 and 25 October 2009).
Nine people were killed and one critically injured when two cars collided head-on in Tafelkop near Motetema in Limpopo in a horrific crash yesterday morning, 25 October 2009. All five occupants of the one car were burnt beyond recognition when it burst into flames after the collision.
Five people died on Saturday, 24 October 2009 when three vehicles collided on Baden Powell Drive on the R102 Bridge in Cape Town.
In KwaZulu-Natal more than five people were reported killed in separate road crashes on Saturday and Sunday (24 and 25 October 2009). Scores of other were injured in several other road crashes around the country.
We want to express our condolences to the families and relatives of those killed in these road crashes and wish those injured a speedy recovery. The national Department of Transport has dispatched a team of accident investigation and reconstruction specialists to assist in the investigation of all these major road crashes. We will ensure that those who are found guilty of this unnecessary loss of lives face the consequences of their actions.
In less than two month's time, the world's attention will be on this City of Cape Town in a manner that is unprecedented in the history of Africa. On 4 December 2009, the Final Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup will take place in this city. That December gathering will set off an unprecedented world march towards Africa, a phenomenon never seen before.
As we gather here at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, we gather to be part of the global movement to address road-related deaths in Africa. We are here to be part of a march which addresses road deaths in Africa, and the world, in a manner which has never been seen before.
The Permanent International Association of Road Congresses (PIARC), under whose auspices we are meeting, seeks to be the world leader in the exchange of knowledge on roads and road transport policy, and practices within an integrated sustainable transport context. We are here because we support this movement to make our roads safer and safer.
Like the FIFA gathering on 4 December, we are also pleased to be part of a movement which seeks oneness of purpose across borders, in a bid to address an issue that affects everyone in the world. We want to create a safer road environment for all our people in Africa, and the world.
Situation in South Africa and the rest of Africa
As we start this seminar, let us draw our attention to the situation in South Africa, the rest of Africa and the world regarding safety on our roads. Africa has the most dangerous roads in the world! Unless we do something about it soon, by 2020 we will find that road crashes will kill more people than those who die from HIV and Malaria put together. In the world, some 3 400 men, women and children are killed every single day on the roads, while walking, cycling or driving.
Approximately 1,3 million people die each year on the world's roads, and between 20 and 50 million sustain non-fatal injuries. The latest global status report on road safety in 178 countries shows that road traffic injuries remain a public health problem, particularly for low-income and middle-income countries.
The Global Status Report on Road Safety in Africa indicates that 62% of the reported road crashes occur in 10 countries. One of these is South Africa. The majority of the reported crashes involve vulnerable road users, pedestrians, cyclists and those using motorised two and three-wheelers.
Pedestrians are vulnerable as road users as they are highly exposed to traffic incidents and crashes. Vehicle crashes cost the South African economy in 2008 approximately R56 billion.
Who is vulnerable?
Let us start perhaps where we should have started: who is a vulnerable road-user? The international definition refers to road-users who are not protected by a shell. However, we must consider as vulnerable a child or anybody who sits in a vehicle without being buckled.
Countries have different vulnerable road-user categories and priorities. In Malaysia, motorcyclists are a high priority and we will hear more detail later in the day about this point. In our situation, a large percentage of vulnerable road-users are captive road-users. These are pedestrians who have no choice but to travel by foot to work or school this is the poorer sector of our society.
Measures taken by the African continent
The call for international dialogue was endorsed, in February 2007, by Ministers from Africa responsible for transport and health. This was reaffirmed through the declaration by African Ministers of Transport and Infrastructure, in Addis Ababa in April 2005.
At this session, African Ministers recalled the UN resolution which endorsed the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention. The Ministers also recalled the UN resolution which recognises the need for continuous awareness-raising.
They called upon the G8-Summit, held in Germany in June 2007, to recognise the urgent need to improve road safety in Africa, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the Ministers' called upon the African Union Commission to present the declaration and recommendations to the next meeting of African Ministers, responsible for Transport and Health. This would be used to formulate an action programme by Member States and regional economic communities.
In July 2009, Tanzania hosted us at "Africa's Decade of Action for Road Safety" Conference. This platform provided Africa's main opportunity to debate road first ever global United Nations Ministerial Conference on Road Safety to be held in Moscow later this year, on 19 to 20 November. Our gathering in Tanzania enabled all participants to review progress on improving road safety in Africa.
We also examined how African countries and institutions will implement the "Decade of Action for Safer Roads". This is one of the proposals to be debated by Ministers in Moscow, focusing on developing road safety national plans and targets and implementing, over a decade, safer roads globally.
Measures taken by the international community
In response the United Nations General Assembly, among others, said that traffic deaths and injuries undermined the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty and creating jobs. The UN also said the issue could only be resolved through an international approach.
South Africa - A multi-pronged approach
Only a multi-pronged approach can deal with this challenge. Sound policy is a necessary part of this. We must ensure a safer road environment for all users, not only through regulation but also by design which makes the very environment safer.
Legislation
Our government has implemented our road safety strategy with the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) as its lead agency. A recent World Health Organisation report on South African Road Safety notes that we have the necessary legislation in place. This includes the wearing of helmets by motorcyclists, the wearing of seatbelts, drunken-driving legislation and the setting of speed limits, among others.
Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO)
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) will continue with our zero tolerance approach against traffic offenders. We are committed to the implementation of AARTO throughout the country in 2010. AARTO seeks to create an efficient road traffic management environment in the country, and enhance a culture of compliance through the point's demerit system. Obey the law or lose your licence. Again, as we issue new card licences for drivers we will make sure it is tamper proof and cannot be forged.
The human settlement approach and road design
This approach calls for a development strategy which looks not only at the economic hub as the key user of the road, but factors the human settlement plans along the road. We must ensure that communities who live along the N2 here in Cape Town do not face death each time they need to cross this busy road. Communities in Alexandra Johannesburg, Chesterville and Lamontville in Durban must not face death each time they cross the busy freeways.
SANRAL, an agency of the Department of Transport, has adopted the Road Safety Management System which allows safety considerations to direct decisions on design, construction, maintenance, operation and the management of our road network.
Educating Communities to World Remembrance Day
The World Day of Remembrance for Road Accident Victims has been observed and promoted worldwide by several NGOs, including the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR) and its associated organisations. In KwaZulu-Natal we cemented this into the Siyabakhumbula campaign, where we remembered victims of traffic crashes every year. On 26 October 2005, the United Nations endorsed it as a global day to be observed every third Sunday in November each year.
We have realised that we must influence user behaviour before the National Road is reached. SANRAL is therefore engaging communities residing adjacent to National Roads. We target children and young people who are the most vulnerable.
Together with the Departments of Basic Education and Higher Education, we will be teaching learners to drive by the time they get to their first year at a tertiary institution. This will put some 200 000 more drivers on our road every year.
In time, it is not us individually, but a collective, who will make our roads safer. During this seminar, I am sure we will find better and better solutions to safer roads in South Africa, the rest of Africa and the entire world.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Transport
26 October 2009
Source: Sapa
