Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters calls on road users to obey the rules of the road and make road safety a priority
Minister Dipuo Peters calls on all road users to make road safety a priority. This follows amongst others, two separate bus crashes in KwaZulu-Natal involving school children and another one involving a bus, a light motor vehicle and a bakkie.
On the 26th August, in the Umbumbulu area, a bus transporting school children rolled down an embankment and approximately four kids were injured, and on the N2 at Amanzimtoti, a bus carrying fifty two (52) school children and eight adults from a soccer match overturned and rolled through the Armco barrier into the field.
In this occurrence, all occupants were injured and transported to various hospitals. Three people have been killed and more than sixty people injured after a bus, a light motor vehicle and bakkie collided with each other on the R617 about 10 kilometres before Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal this morning, 27 August 2016. “Road safety must always be at the top of our priorities. Drivers should always consider the threats and possible worst case scenarios – and plan to avoid as many of these as possible,” cautions Minister Peters.
Furthermore, the Minister reminds motorists to always carry their valid driver’s licenses; to drive roadworthy vehicles; to buckle-up; to use child restraints and for public transport operators to use valid permits, including rethinking their attitude to travelling even just few kilometres over the set speed limit. “We have instructed our traffic law enforcement officers to be on high alert, to patrol all known hazardous routes, to be visible and show no mercy to traffic law violations,” said Minister Peters.
The Minister warned that there will be roving law enforcement operation in hotspots with no negotiations with speedsters and drunk drivers. More attention will also be on passenger and pedestrian safety. Heavy fines will be issued for every passenger not wearing a seatbelt and for a child who is not on a child restraint. Minister Peters warns public transport operators and all other motorists that use overloaded and unroadworthy vehicles that they will not be allowed to proceed to their destinations.
“This state of affairs on our roads is unacceptable and it must be confronted with the seriousness it deserves. As South Africans, we need to change our attitudes on our roads and be alive to the fact that our roads are a national asset which is regulated by the laws and must be respected and observed by all”, Minister Peters warned.
We have committed ourselves to achieve this by implementing a 365 days road safety programme focussing on road safety, education, engineering, enforcement and evaluation. The Minister remains concerned that weekends continue unabated to pose a major challenge as clearly demonstrated by carnages on our roads with most crashes occurring on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and with a phenomenon where these crashes occur between 14H00 and 23H00.
Human factor contributes the most to these crashes, with many collisions occurring as a result of jay-walking, speeding, overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic, hit and run and driving under the influence of alcohol. “Our road safety analysis brings to the fore a very painful reality of the role played by unroadworthy vehicles. Key to the vehicle factors that contributed to the crashes are tyre bursts, faulty brakes and smooth tyres”, Minister Peters pointed out.
The Minister asserts that in 2015 we marked the mid-term in our implementation of the United Nations Decade of Action for road safety and that we owe it to our country and the continent to achieve the Decade of Action’s goal of reducing road fatalities by half by year 2020. Minister Peters appealed that in the midst of all the efforts to reduce carnages on our roads, let us all choose life not death. We can only do this by knowing that our roads are a public asset which must always be used responsibly. Minister Peters extend her sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their loved ones on our roads and wishes a speedy recovery to all those who are recuperating in hospitals.
Enquiries:
Ishmael Mnisi
Cell: 072 566 0827
