The 3rd Think Pedestrian Golf Day, sponsored by Eqstra Fleet Management and Amasondo Fleet Services, was held at the Serengeti Golf Estate on 21 October 2014. An amount of R505 500 was raised and handed over to the Think Pedestrian Campaign to support pedestrian related Road Safety Campaigns during the next 12 months.

The Think Pedestrian campaign is part of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety aimed at drastically reducing pedestrian accident fatalities around the world. South Africa was one of the first countries to adopt the campaign which is also supported by the Department of Transport in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory.

“I would like to thank all our sponsors for assisting us to raise money for this worthy cause,” said Mrs Brenda Matyolo, General Manager of Amasondo Fleet Services. “Unitrans and ATNS, our anchor sponsors, assisted us with a contribution of R65 000 each, while our other sponsors assisted us to reach this outstanding total of more than half a million rand.” In addition, Zoleka Mandela, grand daughter of Nelson Mandela, contributed copies of her recent book “When Hope Whispers” to all participants. The book tells of Zoleka’s private journey from tragedy to triumph from 2010 to the present.

Road accident statistics are alarming. Around the world, nearly 1.3 million people die and up to 50 million are injured every year on in traffic related accidents. South Africa is rated third worst in the world in this regard and road fatalities in South Africa have increased faster than the vehicle population over the past 50 years. The pedestrian category alone accounts for nearly 40% of road fatalities annually. South Africa is one of the few countries in the world where highways frequently separate housing settlements from schools, shops, clinics or places of recreation and these are the areas that contribute significantly to our appalling statistics. This is not only because of irresponsible pedestrian behaviour – it is also due to bad driving, speeding, and lack of awareness. The attitude of South African drivers is predominantly the cause. The recent fatal crash on the N3 near Alberton is a prime example of this sort of irresponsible driving.

With these statistics in mind Eqstra Fleet Management launched the Think Pedestrian Campaign in 2012. Using the UN slogan “ Together we can save millions of lives, ” the campaign is aimed at reducing road fatalities through generating robust awareness and education programmes to both drivers and pedestrians, through infrastructure development and it will last for a decade. To date, the campaign has participated in the festive awareness campaigns on South African national roads where public transport and trucks are pulled off the road for enforced rest stops during which time passengers and pedestrians are educated about road safety. In addition traffic calming measures on some of our most notorious roads have been erected and, with the support of Eqstra Fleet Management, more than R2 million has been raised to support these initiatives.

There is already light at the end of the tunnel. Road deaths over the Easter Weekend, traditionally a dangerous time to be out and about, have dropped significantly. But overall, South Africa has a long way to go.

“I would like to thank all our sponsors for assisting us to raise money for this worthy cause,” said Mrs Brenda Matyolo, General Manager of Amasondo Fleet Services. “Unitrans and ATNS, our anchor sponsors, assisted us with a contribution of R65 000 each, while our other sponsors assisted us to reach this outstanding total of more than half a million rand.” In addition, Zoleka Mandela, grand daughter of Nelson Mandela, contributed copies of her recent book “When Hope Whispers” to all participants. The book tells of Zoleka’s private journey from tragedy to triumph from 2010 to the present.

“Initiatives such as these go a long way to alleviating the misery caused by unnecessary deaths on the roads,” concluded Brenda. “We look forward to continued support from our sponsors, our communities and the Department of Transport.”