Transport Minister Dipuo Peters, released this statement on interventions to address road carnage in SA.

Introduction

Since my appointment to the Department of Transport just over a month ago, I have had several opportunities to be briefed on several matters pertaining to the portfolio of Transport.

Having been in government for several years now, most of the issues I received briefings on were familiar as I had interacted with them in my previous lines of work.

However nothing could have prepared me for the graphic details behind the term Road Safety. I soon learned that we are confronted with a major challenge as a nation.

One of the things I have since come to better appreciate is the impact of road crashes to those involved, directly or otherwise, beyond the screaming headlines.

The long term effects of road crashes, fatal or otherwise, are devastating. Bread winners are taken away from their families. Those who remain behind face a bleak future without a source of income. Surviving victims are faced with lifetime incapacity to fend for themselves due to severe injuries and disability.

The cost to the economy

Research outcomes indicate that at least R306bn is lost to the South African economy annually as a result of road crashes, fatal and otherwise.

This cost includes loss of manpower/skills due to fatalities and injuries, emergency medical services, post-crash services such as road repairs and clean-up operations, compensation paid out by our agency, the Road Accident Fund, etc.

The RAF alone pays out at least R15bn to victims of road crashes each year. Of this amount, R1bn is for continued medical support of those who get injured during crashes. Through its Community Outreach Programme, “RAF on the Road,” the Fund is able to swiftly register and settle claims on location. This programme also assists in cutting out the proverbial “Middleman” and ensures a satisfactorily pay out to the claimant without lawyers claiming a fair share of the pay-out.

It’s time we begin to thoroughly asses and fully comprehend the cost of crashes to the economy and society in general.

Human resource capacity

It is a well-known fact that we do not have sufficient law enforcement officers to police every corner of our country.

The Ministry is currently engaged in exploratory inter-governmental discussions regarding the human resource needs of traffic law enforcement authorities, i.e. balanced division of labour and allocation of resources, human and financial alike. Moving violations are frequently emerging as the common form of cause of collision of vehicles with fatal consequences in some.

The department believes that part of the remedial actions for law enforcement authorities should be to increase traffic personnel to address glaring challenges such as dangerous overtaking which is a major cause of all fatal head-on collisions.

What appears at face value as a minor issue of no consequence such indicating before you turn, could mean the difference between life and death.

We believe that with additional capacity on our roads, we will be able to better tackle the challenge confronting us.

Responsive cooperative governance

I have since established an intergovernmental team of experts to investigate pragmatic and sustainable interventions aimed at curbing the spate of road crashes in South Africa.

The team, comprising senior officials from the National Department of Transport, Road Traffic Management Corporation, Road Traffic Infringement Agency, the SA National Road Agency Limited and the Road Accident Fund, will work closely with law enforcement authorities in provinces and municipalities.

The team would be guided by the three pillars of road safety that form the core of government’s mandate of making roads safer, namely: Enforcement, Engineering and Education.

The areas of focus would include reviewing existing legislation under the National Road Traffic Act, road structural challenges and educational campaigns aimed at raising awareness about road safety hazards among motorists, passengers and pedestrians alike.

The team will further be requested to propose immediate interventions to address identified hazards where applicable to prevent recurrences. Its scope of work will also include the facilitation of the creation of a reliable Data Bank to assist us with forward planning and budgeting in tackling road carnage.

All these are meant to support our efforts to have all-year round road safety programmes because indeed crashes happen daily and not confined to specific seasons. We do however acknowledge the continued need to multiply our efforts during peak traffic seasons such end of year holidays, Easter long weekend and mid-year vacations.

The team would report to me on a monthly basis regarding trends and magnitude of crashes experienced during that particular month. I will share their findings with MECs of Transport and Safety in provinces using the platform of MinMec to ensure that recommendations are not just noted but are implemented.

Enforcement

Law enforcement is an exclusive competency of the State. This responsibility is shared equally amongst National, Provincial and Local spheres of government. The primary intention of this function is to enforce the law against violations, penalise perpetrators and seek to deter offenders from repeating their bad ways.

It’s a challenging responsibility to discharge due to several attendant factors, i.e. Capacity Constraints and Corruption among others.

We receive on a regular basis, reports of our officers willing to let off transgressors in exchange for money and/or other goods. This practice is not only a gross act of criminality but it’s a deed with potential fatal consequences. If an officer accepts a bribe from an offending motorists and release such a motorist without applying the necessary sanction, that officer becomes a potential accessory to murder because the offender could go on and cause untold mayhem a few kilometres down the road.

It’s a challenge we continue to grapple with. While we will continue to deal with our own officers who are caught on the wrong side of the law, we need the cooperation of the public. Our request is simple: do not offer bribes to our officers or accede to requests for bribes from our officers. It’s a criminal offence and you will be charged and prosecuted for such.

We are also warning driving school operators from conducting themselves in ways that are in violation of the law. Only a leaner driver who has received adequate training should be booked for driver’s license testing. They must not circumvent processes in a bid to make extra revenue at the expense of people’s lives.

Legislative changes

It is worth noting that several interventions are already underway within the legislative framework that governs conduct on our roads.

These include proposed amendments to the National Road Traffic Act to introduce a two-year probation period for first time applicants of driver’s licenses and the reduction of the legal alcohol content limit to 0,05 % for drivers of normal vehicles and 0,00% for professional drivers, among others.

We need laws that bite and assist behavioural change within the South African motoring community. Behaviour that is inconsistent with the law must attract the necessary penalties.

Working with our sister departments within the Justice Crime Prevention Security Cluster, we are steaming ahead with our operations to rid our Testing Stations of corrupt practices.

Since the establishment of a team to look into this challenge two years ago, several people have been arrested and disciplinary processes undertaken.

It remains a major area of concern for us because it’s at this level that untrained and unqualified drivers are issued with licenses and unroadworthy vehicles are certified to be roadworthy.

We have attached an annexure with a list of legislative interventions undertaken by the Department, their intended objectives and progress status up to date.

Structural interventions

It is a well documented fact that roads in bad conditions contribute to road collisions. We have taken note of the fact that many of our provincial roads are in not in a good condition that enables and promotes road safety.

Through the Provincial Road Maintenance Grant, commonly known as S’HAMBA SONKE, we have since introduced new innovative ideas on acquiring external advice and skills that would see us adequately responding to the challenges confronting us.

As part of strengthening capacity directly at provincial level, the department will from now onwards ensure that each province has a dedicated service provider as and when external support is needed to address the issue of road maintenance.

National Government has set aside at least R8.7bn for the Financial Year 2013/2014 to allocate to provinces through the Division of Revenue Act, for the rehabilitation and maintenance of roads. This allocation is additional to the budget set aside for the provincial departments by the provincial government.

SANRAL will work closely with the team to ensure that an opinion is formulated post each collision in order to ascertain road engineering/structural factors that could possibly contribute to circumstances surrounding a particular collision.

We urge all those who form part of the road construction value chain to always prioritise safety for every road they build, from design to the actual construction of the road. We are equally encouraged that in the main, our roads have been designed to appreciate and accommodate the important element of safety.

We need to adhere to the set norms and standards of practice within the road construction industry because failure to do so might have fatal consequences in future.

The entire value chain needs to speak one language with regard to the issue of quality and safe roads.

Public private civil society partnerships/educational campaigns

Through the Decade of Action for Road Safety campaign spearheaded by the United Nations, we have a target of reducing road fatalities by half before 2020. Only a united national approach will see us realise this goal of halving the estimated 14 000 fatalities in the next seven years.

We can never overemphasise the need for progressive and sustainable partnerships among all role players within the road safety space. To this effect, the Department will convene a Road Safety Summit on the 4th of October, bring together role players within the road safety space.

This approach will assist us in ensuring that we combine efforts of government at all three spheres, the private sector and civil society. We further believe that this watershed Summit will enable us to realise a collective national approach to a national problem.

Although government has the primary responsibility of ensuring safer roads, pragmatism will confirm that we all have a role to play, from drivers, fleet owners, passengers to pedestrians. Responsibility towards road safety doesn’t only rest with the driver but other parties such as fleet owners, passengers and pedestrians.

Fleet owners have a responsibility to ensure the road worthiness of their vehicles before assigning them to drivers. They also have a responsibility to ensure that their drivers do not drive long hours without rest and/or under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. We will hold fleet owners accountable for collisions/ crashes caused by unroadworthy vehicles under their fleet.

We have since started a programme aimed at introducing driving skills at school level. In partnership with the Department of Basic Education, we intend to “catch them young” and instil a culture of discipline and responsibility among future drivers. We want every school leaver to obtain a leaner’s license by the time conclude matric. When they enrol at varsity, they will receive driving lessons through electronic simulators to prepare them for the world of driving.

We want the private sector and civil society to partner with us in this regard. We are aware that there are many non-governmental partners playing their part in their own way. We now want to recognise their efforts and create synergies between what government is doing and their tireless contribution.

We are investigating ways to improve our support for Road Safety Councillors who are doing sterling work in their respective communities with little appreciation and support. They are our eyes and ears where we are unable to reach due to capacity constraints.

Our partnership with the Public Transport industry on road safety is a good example of what we can achieve collectively. They have an ongoing campaign called Hlokomela which aims to educate taxi drivers about their responsibilities towards road safety.

Fields hill Pinetown crash

With regard to the Fields Hill, Pinetown crash, we wish to urge calm and restraint and allow due processes to unfold without interference.

We need to show confidence in and respect for our judiciary and refrain from speculation regardless of outcomes of preliminary investigations. We have faith in the ability of our law enforcement authorities to investigate thoroughly and unearth the real cause of the crash.

We urge all parties involved to work closely and tirelessly to ensure that this matter is closed properly with those in the wrong facing the wrath of the law. We should also pay due to respect to families of the deceased and those who sustained injuries as this is a very sensitive issue to them.

We have an intergovernmental team that’s giving undivided attention to the matter comprising National, Provincial and Local Authorities, and the relevant state entities i.e. RTMC, RTIA, RAF and SANRAL.

The team will look beyond the crash and seek to come up with interventions that would prevent any recurrence within that intersection. We need long term solutions to the challenges confronting us.