At midnight on Monday 21 April we marked the end of Easter long-weekend road traffic management campaigns that were carried out by traffic authorities throughout the country.
Once again the spotlight fell on us as Team Transport as thousands of people embarked on journeys to various destinations for religious and leisure reasons. The country’s national routes such as the N1, N2, N3 and N4 among others experienced an increase in the number of vehicles travelling towards various destinations. Festive seasons always place an added responsibility on traffic authorities who have the mammoth task of ensuring that people comply with the rules of road and facilitate seamless flow of traffic. Although we have taken a decision to ensure that we make road safety a 365-day business, it is inevitable that we double-up our efforts when we approach the festive season and Easter weekend. This is due to the obvious fact that there’s remarkable rise in traffic volumes. The National Traffic Police located within the RTMC get into partnerships with our provincial and municipal traffic authorities and the South African Police Service to reduce and where possible eliminate the risk of crashes on our roads. Working under very trying circumstances at times, they also manage the flow of traffic and ensure that minor incidents such as car-breakdowns do not result in major incidents. They do their work despite hostility from uncooperative motorists at times with one primary objective in mind: To save people’s lives. Trends and causes According preliminary information at our disposal thus far, we experienced an increase in traffic volumes along major arterial routes leading out of Gauteng, with the N1 north and south, N3 towards Kwa-Zulu Natal and N4 towards Mpumalanga amongst others. The official vehicle population has significantly grown over the years and this has translated to an added burden on our road infrastructure network and law enforcement capacity. In 2013 we had at least 10 741 895 registered vehicles. This number has since grown to 11-million 127 925. Also of interest is that in 2013, the number of driver’s licenses issued were 10 271 066. This number has since increased to 10 766 228 cumulatively, meaning that 495 162 new drivers were recently licensed to use our road networks. The process of compiling statistics on road crashes and the resulting fatalities and injuries is a challenging process that requires a meticulous and calculated approach. It involves the departments of Transport and Health, Transport entities with a road safety mandate, provincial governments and the South African Police Service. Information from pathology units in provinces is also relied on for verification. As signatories to international conventions, we’re also required to comply with the relevant norms and standards. These include conventions of the World Health Organisation among others. This is all done to give our citizens the assurance that these statistics are rooted in integrity and do not in any way leave out any incident where members of their families were affected. With this said, we believe that there’s room for improvement to enhance the integrity and quality of these statistics. While the fixation is understandably around the number of fatalities recorded over this period, it is also important to make an assessment of the genesis and context within which these crashes occur, and get all of us to understand each road user’s responsibility. It must be further understood that the department of Transport and its entities will always discharge their responsibility to disseminate messages and information about road safety without prejudice. We continue to review our policies and legislation that are aimed at improving safety on our roads through proper infrastructure, enforcement and awareness. Road safety, first and foremost, is an individual road user’s responsibility. Once this notion is lost on any road user: motorists, passengers and pedestrians alike, the battle against road carnage is undermined. The carnage we continue to experience on our roads is instigated by a number of factors mostly embedded in human behavior and vehicle factor. Some of these factors are as follows; • Alcohol and substance abuse, • Reckless and negligent driving, • Un-roadworthy vehicles, • Overtaking on blind-rises, barrier lines and in areas of poor visibility, • A total disregard for rules of the road, • Corruption, • Unlicensed and illegally licensed drivers, • Distractive driving – where drivers use cellphones while driving, • Lack of courtesy towards other road users, • Irrational impatience and road rage, • Failure to use seatbelts (buckling up) and child restraints, • Overloading and hazardous chemical crashes, • Impatience even at road construction sites, • Fatigue caused by failure to rest at periodic intervals, and • Stray animals on our roads, particularly in rural areas. The question of our road conditions in some areas is a concern. There’s evidence to the effect that roads in a bad state contribute to road crashes. To address this challenge, the department issues grants to provinces in need to for road maintenance and while some of the provinces have made some progress in fixing their roads, others are still lagging behind in this regard. We are working with them to ensure that whatever challenges that arise are addressed. One of the major disturbing elements emerging from the information gathered thus far is the vulnerability of pedestrians. At least 40 percent of people dying from road-related incidents are pedestrians. Their vulnerability manifests itself in the following ways; • Drinking and walking, including jay walking, • Wrong and dangerous crossing of the road, • Informal settlements situated alongside busy roads and intersections • Walking on and crossing of highways, and • Failure to wear visible clothing at night. Statistics The figures for this past Easter long weekend indicate that our efforts in law enforcement are yielding some positive outcomes. They also show that our messages are reaching the target audience and that road users too are heeding our call to make road safety their personal responsibility.The road towards halving fatalities by 2020 to what it was in 2011 is a long one laced with many challenges. The 2011 to 2020 United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety global campaign has placed an obligation on all signatories to attain this target.
The report was compiled by the police, evaluated by the RTMC, and verified by provincial heads of departments of transport and their respective political heads. According to the RTMC preliminary figures, crashes recorded total 148, regrettably and unfortunately resulting in 193 fatalities nationwide. These are figures captured for the period starting Thursday 17 April at midnight ending Monday 21 April at midnight. The provincial breakdown is as follows; Province Number of Crashes Number of Fatalities Eastern Cape 19 36 Free- State 9 15 Gauteng 22 23 Kwazulu- Natal 39 49 Limpopo 23 30 Mpumalanga 18 19 Northern- Cape 5 6 North- West 7 7 Western- Cape 6 8 Total 148 193 Analysis If we make reference to the two previous years: in 2012 we recorded 181 crashes which resulted in 217 fatalities and in 2013 we recorded 201 crashes which resulted in 241 fatalities. This therefore means we have made headway in reducing the number of crashes in general and fatalities in particular. This is despite the fact that there is growth in both the population size in general and the vehicle population size in particular. While this is no cause for celebration, we can however pat ourselves on the back as government, civil society and the private sector for this achievement. The decline in both crashes and fatalities recorded is an indication that we are making progress in achieving the 2020 global target of halving road fatalities. We remain concerned with the high number of pedestrian fatalities, who for this year again account for 40% of the total fatalities. This figure has become an almost permanent feature in our statistics. What we did Our relative success can be attributed to the increased number of law enforcement officers and improved visibility on our roads, especially on national roads. – There were 106 roadblocks conducted; – 283 323 vehicles were stopped and checked, – 43 433 notices were issued, – 1 094 vehicles were discontinued, – 1 457 vehicles were impounded, – 330 motorists were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, – 10 motorists were arrested for dangerous/negligent driving and – 3 stolen vehicles were recovered in Gauteng. These results are also a result of our relentless and tireless campaign of 365 days wherein we have made road safety a constant project and not a once-off exercise targeted only for peak periods. The collective and collaborative efforts of our stakeholders have paid off remarkably, with the Faith Based Community who use their religious platforms to spread the road safety message. Going into the future The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), in conjunction with provinces and municipalities will usher in a new National Rolling Enforcement Plan as part of Make Roads Safe Campaign in line with the 365 days for road safety approach. Traffic Law Enforcement Officers across the country will stop and check no less than one million vehicles and drivers every month. A minimum of 10 000 drivers will be screened for alcohol per month as part of Operation Tshwara-Setagwa (Arrest Drunkards). We are establishing a new multidisciplinary task-team to compile road traffic statistics. The team will include the Department of Transport, the RTMC, Provincial heads of transport departments, Department of Health, Statistics South Africa, CSIR and SALGA amongst others. On behalf of the Shareholders Committee comprising all Transport and Safety MECs from all the provinces, I congratulate all our law enforcement officers in all spheres of government, the SAPS, the Department of Defence, Emergency Medical Services, our private sector partners and road safety activists and volunteers for a job well done. The nation is indebted to you for your tireless efforts. Thank you also to the media who have partnered with us in spreading the word and encouraging responsible behavior. Please continue working with us to help fight this scourge. Most of all, thank you to the millions of South African road users who heeded the message of road safety and we urge them to continue to be road safety ambassadors. To those who are still refusing to comply, your days are numbered. It is just a matter of time before we catch you and remove you from our roads for you are a danger to yourselves and society at large. We express our sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and a speedy recovery to those who sustained injuries. Together we can save millions of lives.
