Tsakani – The National Department of Transport launched the 2023 Road Safety Festive Season Campaign on Sunday at the Tsakani Stadium.
The event had prestigious guests including Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, Ekurhuleni MMC for City Planning and Economic Development Nomadlozi Nkosi, faith-based and religious leaders and road accident survivors among many others.
The minister started her address by speaking about the pandemic that is GBV-F.
“We launch our Festive Season Road Safety Campaign during the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. This year marks 25 years since South Africa initiated the campaign and I call on the transport and law enforcement community to prevent practices that perpetuate inequality and the abuse of women and children,” she said.
She said GBV is devastating communities and requires a joint concerted effort by everyone to make the country safe for women and children.
“As we take a pledge to improve safety on the roads, let us also pledge to take action to support 16 Days of Activism of No Violence Against Women and Children,” Chikunga said.
“The festive season, much like Easter holidays, is one of the busiest travel seasons on our roads. We witness a lot of movements between provinces. It is also a period where we experience an influx of tourists from neighbouring countries visiting South Africa in numbers.
“Road crashes and fatalities are amongst major challenges that countries of the world have had to grapple with for some time.
“Road-related crashes, resulting in serious injuries and fatalities, were only brought to the Global Agenda in 2009 when over 100 transport ministers came together and took a UN resolution to declare 2011-2020 A Decade of Action for Road Safety. The primary aim of the first decade of action for road safety was to reduce and stabilise road crashes and fatalities.
“The main objective was to save five million lives and up to 50 million serious injuries, by halving road accidents by 50% at the end of the decade for Road Safety which was in 2020.
“In August 2020 the UN General Assembly issued a new resolution which proclaimed the period 2021–2030 as the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety. This decade also aims to reduce road to traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50% by 2030.”
She said according to scientific empirical evidence, it is recorded that more than 85% of road traffic injuries and deaths occur in low and middle-income countries and impose huge economic costs in these countries.
Research shows that Africa is the least motorised continent, possessing 2% of the global vehicle population, but it contributes 16% of the recorded global road traffic fatalities.
According to the minister, South Africa, as a nation, first experienced a major road crash over a century ago, that is, in 1903 in Maitland, in the then Cape of Good Hope, currently known as the Western Cape Province.
“Statistics show that between 1903 and 2014, we recorded 459 095 road crashes, which resulted in 545 601 road deaths,” she continued.
“At a national level, as the National Department of Transport, we convened a series of national road safety policy consultative workshops and a Road Safety Summits to foster open and critical dialogue between government, industry, civil society and academia.”
Among the other measures by the department, the minister said, “We introduced legislative amendments to enhance preventive measures. For instance, we introduced blood alcohol content limits, speed limits especially in urban areas and around schools.
“We also established mandatory seat belt regulations and child restraint use. Key to this was the admission of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) as a member on the UN Road Safety Collaboration (UNRSC) as a lead agency on Road Safety which gave rise to South Africa’s participation on the Global Road Safety Plan.
“We examined a range of sentencing options for traffic violations, including licence suspensions under the AARTO demerit points system, and – for specific grades of offences – community service sentences and/or mandatory licence re-testing.
“We approved the 2016-2030 National Road Safety Strategy, with intermediate and long-term actions to ensure vehicle fitness, driver safety, pedestrian safety, community participation in issues of road safety.
“We developed an action plan for the achievement of the goals, through the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) as a lead agency on road safety matters, and working together with all roads-based transport entities, provinces and local municipalities.”
“Over this period, we are deploying personnel and technologies across the country, especially in high-risk accident-prone areas to prevent incidents and accidents by ensuring all road users interact safely with the road.
“The different traffic entities and the police, our enforcers present here today, are ready to ensure safety on our roads.”
