The annual Road Safety Summit will address ongoing concerns regarding the proposed regulations that are intended to reduce road carnage.

The summit will be hosted by the Intelligence Transfer Centre in November and will address the following:

• Demystifying the driver demerit system
• Embarking on effective road safety programmes and campaigns
• Co-ordinating road safety and transport stakeholders towards the same goal
• Anticipating the future of effective substance abuse testing
• Road safety from a fleet management perspective

The draft regulations were announced by the Department of Transport in early 2015 and were intended to be implemented by the end of last year. However by November 2015 it remained unclear whether government was going to pass any of the proposed legislation.

The draft regulations suggested that the following five changes be added to current legislation:

1. Drivers should be re-evaulated by means of a practical test when renewing their license.
2. No more than five people will be permitted to be carried at the back of an open bakkie.
3. Children were not allowed to be transported at the back of an open bakkie (a bakkie load bed).
4. Speed limits should be reduced from 60km/h to 40km/h in urban areas, from 100km/h to 80km/h in rural areas and from 120km/h to 100km/h on freeways that run through residential areas.
5. Goods vehicles above 9000kg GVM should to be banned from public roads during peak travelling hours.

The regulations were met with resistance from the Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) that said the draft regulations were “bastardised by persons at the Department of Transport”.

Road safety was clearly not a priority for the transport department, the JPSA said in a response to the proposed regulations. The regulations were an example of the department demonstrating that “they do not have any idea whatsoever of what the real problems are, let alone how to start addressing them”, the organisation added.

The annual summit will bring together leaders in the industry including Thandi Moya, road safety and special projects director, the National Department of Transport, KZN MEC for transport and the Tshwane metro police department.

The conference will take place at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, Johannesburg on November 2 and 3. To register for the conference contact Zakhele on 0113262501, or e-mail bookings@intelligencetransferc.co.za or visit www.intelligencetransferc.co.za.