"Arrive Alive Campaign" for the festive season, Lichtenburg Rugby Stadium,
Lichtenburg
6 December 2006
Motor vehicle accidents, road fatalities and serious injuries incurred
during road accidents are reaching unacceptable proportions every day. A day
hardly goes by without a family mourning the loss of their loved ones.
Programme Director, we are only six days in the campaign and already 22
people have died on our roads in the province. Information at my disposal
informs me that we already had 16 fatal crashes.
Three of the victims were drivers, 13 were passengers and six were
pedestrians. However, the situation as painted above may look slightly better,
as compared to the same period last year. There were 22 fatal crashes from 1 to
5 December last year which claimed 24 lives, eight were drivers, five were
passengers and 11 were pedestrians.
I must emphasise at this point that irrespective of the downward trend, one
life lost is a life too many. This is a clear indication to us that if we do
not co-operate and work as a unit to stem the tide, this problem will manifest
itself into a real monster on our doorstep.
It will negatively affect progress in other sectors, particularly the
achievement of the six percent growth target of the economy. This point was
also echoed by the Minister of Transport, Jeff Radebe, during our World
Remembrance Day commemoration service which was held in Mafikeng on 19
November.
Within the South African context, more than 13 000 lives are lost on our
roads every year. The cost to the economy is estimated at around R43 billion
per annum. This is just to amplify the seriousness of carnage on our roads
countrywide. Every day an average of 36 lives are lost on our roads:
* fifteen are pedestrians and three are killed in taxi-related
incidents
* twenty road accident victims are permanently disabled
* over 7 000 people are left maimed each year
* around 100 people are seriously injured on our roads each day
* ninety percent of crashes are due to lawlessness
* speed is a factor in 75 percent of fatal crashes
* a decrease of 10 percent in speed reduces fatal crashes by 40 percent
* nearly 40 percent of the people killed on our roads are pedestrians.
During April 2006, African Ministers of Transport adopted several
resolutions in Addis Ababa, as part of the international Millennium Development
Goals (MDG). One of these resolutions was to halve the number of road
fatalities by 2014.
Research point to the fact that:
* unbelted occupants of vehicles (drivers and passengers not wearing seat
belts) are three times more likely to end up in hospital as a result of their
injuries
* when a car travels at 60 kilometre per hour, it takes an average person two
seconds to react
* when a vehicle crashes at 60 kilometre per hour, the impact is similar to a
fall from a three-storey building
* at 100 kilometre per hour the impact is equivalent to a fall from a 12-storey
building
* at 120 kilometre per hour it is as good as falling from a 27-storey
building.
I am fully aware that I could be preaching to the converted here. The point
I am making is, all of us here should become disciples and spread the gospel to
all corners of the province about road safety. Communities and individuals must
take responsibility for their behaviour and that of their families and friends
to bring down the number of deaths on the roads.
It is everybody's responsibility and not the responsibility of law
enforcement agencies alone. Statistics reveal that in most instances, road
accidents and the fatalities of drivers, passengers, pedestrians or
non-motorised users is a result of:
* sheer recklessness driving
* taking chances
* disregarding of traffic rules
* alcohol and fatigue.
The Department of Transport Road Safety Strategy 2006 identified clusters of
projects necessary for the enhancement of road traffic safety. These include
reduction of fatalities and serious injuries throughout South Africa and
improved deployment of traffic personnel particularly in hazardous locations,
where the highest concentration of crashes take place.
It is important to highlight the main reason why we chose this particular
area and district for today's launch.
Programme Director, it has come to my attention that the roads around here
are accident prone. A point that is still going to be verified through the
research we are busy conducting. This is demonstrated by the fact that 51 have
been killed since January this year on several roads leading to and from
Litchtenburg to nearby towns.
The so called "killer roads" are:
* Lichtenburg to Mafikeng, Coligny and Koster
* Coligny to Hartebeesfontein, Ventersdorp, Besiesvlei and Putfontein.
To this end, the department is busy with research to establish the causal
factors of fatalities on our roads. It is anticipated that this research should
be completed by April 2007.
This will inform the department to develop proactive strategies and plans
towards road safety in our province. While effective and visible policing
should be the order of the day during the festive season across the province,
the roads I have mentioned should get special attention.
Regional directors must make sure that this happens without fail. In total
461 people were killed in 367 fatal crashes in the whole of North West between
December 2005 and August 2006. Hundred and seventy-three of the victims were
pedestrians, 163 were passengers and 125 were drivers.
Driver fatigue, poor visibility of pedestrians especially at night,
non-usage of safety/seat belts, over speeding and un-roadworthy vehicles were
attributed as the major causes of fatal crashes during the said period.
According to the National Fatal Accident Statistics, human factors as in
pedestrian and drivers, constituted 88,24 percent in 2003 and 88,53 percent in
2005.
The vehicle factor constituted the sum total of 5,18 percent in 2003 and
4,82 percent in 2005. The road and environmental factors constituted 6,58
percent in 2003 and 6,65 percent in 2005.
Therefore the human factors represent the highest percentage of the
contributory factors of fatal accidents on our roads. The road safety strategy
will also ensure the deployment of technology to increase performance rates of
officers and encourages compliance, improvement of reporting procedures from
60% for all crashes to 100% by 2008.
Law enforcement authorities will make sure that more drivers and vehicles
are legally registered and licensed. This will ensure compliance rates of 95%
by 2010 and that there is a decrease in the number of un-roadworthy and
unlicensed vehicles to ensure this compliance.
Just recently the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that vehicles of drunk
drivers and habitual offenders could be impounded or forfeited to the state.
This ruling bolsters our law enforcement interventions particularly during the
festive season when traffic volumes on our major roads increase.
With the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) in operation, law
enforcement is now standardised and co-ordinated across all provinces. This
festive season there will be 1 000 roadblocks per day across the country. In
our province we will mount 110 roadblocks to specifically target:
* vehicle fitness
* alcohol abuse
* public transport vehicles
* overloading.
All these roadblocks will integrate investigation of crime and violence on
our roads by members of the South African Police Services. In order to achieve
the objectives set out in the Road Safety Strategy 2006 we need your full
participation, the private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the
mass media and the general public.
It is not a mission impossible to achieve, with the limited resources at our
disposal to ensure that there is effective and visible law enforcement on our
roads this festive season.
If resources, like patrol cars are shared equitably and used effectively for
the purpose they are meant for, our task as the department will be made much
easier. I am aware of some of the challenges our law enforcement officers are
facing. We as the department must ensure that those challenges are resolved
speedily. Let us roll up our sleeves and take a vow to effectively police our
roads and help reduce the road carnage this festive season. Arrive alive and do
not drink and drive
I thank you
Issued by: Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety, North West
Provincial Government
6 December 2006
Source: Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety (http://www.nwpg.gov.za)
