Minister of Transport of South Africa, Ms Dipuo Peters, address at the occasion of the Africa Road Safety 2016 at Tsogo Sun Elangeni Hotel, Durban, South Africa
Programme Director;
Ms Zandile Gumede, Executive Mayor of Ethekwini Municipality;
GRSP Geneva, Dr Barry Watson, CEO GRSP Secretariat, Switzerland;
Dr Sebastian Van As, Chairperson, GRSP South Africa;
Ms Lorraine Mangwiro for Dr Fatoumata Nafon Traore, IFRC Regional Director for Africa;
United National Special Envoy for Road Safety, Mr Jean Todt;
Representatives of foreign governments;
Road Safety Ambassadors;
Government Officials from all spheres of government in South Africa;
Members of the media;
Distinguished guests,
Esteemed participants,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Yesterday, the 30th October 2013, marked South Africa’s conclusion of a very successful October Transport Month. 2 Transport month activities are an annual feature on the calendar of the Department of Transport and seeks to raise awareness of the important role of transport infrastructure in the South Africa economy, and also it galvanise the participation from civic society and business, to share a common understanding of our commitment to provide a safer, more affordable, accessible and reliable transport system for our country.
This is carried by the Department through unleashing new infrastructural projects, road safety education programmes and traffic law enforcement operations. October month is also important to South Africa because the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa governing party, marks Oliver Tambo Month, a month of renewal and reflection on the values of the ANC based on the life of this illustrious leader and its longest serving President. On the 27th of October 2016, President Oliver Reginald Tambo would have turned 99 years old.
This makes 2017 a crucial year for our movement as it marks the Centenary of OR, one of the most outstanding leaders to be produced by our country and our continent. Programme Director, In September 2015, the world set their global development agenda for the next 15 years.
These are called the Global Goals, which include for the first time, two road safety targets:
Target 3.6 � By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents
Target 11.2 – By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons.
It is definitely pleasing for me to address the Africa Road Safety 2016, held under the theme: Halving Road Deaths and injuries by 20120 The Challenges for communities, cities, companies and countries. I will be focusing my input to this important road safety gathering on South Africa’s response to road safety challenges and opportunities to contribute to the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety.
The Department of Transport in South Africa, as the custodian of road entities, comprising of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), the Road Safety Infringement Agency (RTIA), the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL), the Road Accident Fund (RAF), and the Cross Boarder Road Transport Agency (CBRTA), has sets out key milestone for South Africa in the achievement of the UN decade of Action, in line with the UN resolution.
Reductions in road deaths have however not decreased at the rate required for South Africa to realistically meet the international aspirational goals laid out by the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 (UNDA) to achieve 50% reduction by 2020. Together with our road entities, as the Department of Transport we view road safety as a daily issue that must be addressed through our dedicated 365 day program which is sustainable and consistent.
The programme has been structured to align with the United National Decade of Action for Road Safety Global Plan and the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals. As the Department of Transport, we are in the final stages to complete a National Road Safety Strategy, which will be the blueprint in the implementation of our road safety interventions.
There is a refreshing willingness among stakeholders � law enforcement, provincial and local government, road management agencies, educational authorities and communities � to treat this as a national priority, working together to implement the strategy. Targeting road user behaviour through education, legislation and enforcement has been the cornerstone of our improved road safety record to date.
Clearly, we are on the right track in following an integrated response to road crashes and addressing each of the elements of the global action plan on road safety, law enforcement, education and awareness, safer vehicles and safer roads. Our modern trend in road safety management is to follow a safe systems approach in the design of road surfaces, road environments and vehicles. We adopted this approach in recognition of the fact that the interrelationship between factors that lead to crashes should place human being at the centre of the response.
Human beings are fallible and even the most safety-conscious individual will make a mistake or commit an error of judgement that might lead to a crash. Our road management authorities and the construction sector are increasingly taking this into account in the planning, design, building and maintenance of road networks. Best global practices in design and engineering are increasingly being implemented in developing countries and South Africa is, indeed, fortunate to draw on the experience and expertise available at an organisation such as SANRAL � which is widely-respected among its peers in the industry.
Last month SANRAL hosted the meeting of the World Road Association which brought together the leading thinkers in the fields of planning and design. Local research shows that in the order of 95% of road traffic crashes happens as a direct result of one or more traffic offences. Some of the main contributory factors to fatal road crashes, as submitted over a number of years by the South African Police Services (SAPS) to the RTMC on fatal accident report forms and categorised as follows:
Human factor (82%),
Vehicle factors (10%) and,
Road environment factors (8%).
The severity of fatal crashes in South Africa mainly attributed to:
The speed at which a crash happens � the higher the speed the higher the rate;
The wearing rate of seatbelts, the higher the wearing rate the lower the severity;
The type of crash, for example the severity rate is higher for vehicles travelling in the opposite directions resulting in head-on crashes (which is contributed to by illegal and unsafe overtaking) and lower for vehicles travelling in the same direction (head-rear crashes), depending on the following distance and the speed differential between the vehicles; and the number of high occupancy vehicles (buses and minibuses) involved in fatal crashes.
Ladies and gentlemen; as a country we reported a road death rate of 23.5 per 100 000 people in 2014 when the global average is 17.4 fatalities per 100 000 people. Middle income countries like ours record an average of 18.4 fatalities per 100 000 people. The importance of road safety to the economy and society at large provides a convincing case for decisive policies and strategies to address the problem. People injured or killed on our roads are often breadwinners in their families and important contributors to the economy at large. Therefore it is not an exaggeration to say that road crashes deny our people a right to pursue economic activities and denies their children the right to education.
An economic and financial analysis of road crashes points to the need to improve road safety in the country. This will enable South Africans to live long productive lives and fiscal resources can be freed to focus on the important business of socio-economic development. In the past, South Africa has experienced reduced road traffic fatalities, with the figures reducing fairly steadily from 15,419 in 2006 to 12,702 as of 2014.
The Department of Transport and its entities continues to put measures to mitigate on reducing road safety risk factors. Amongst the interventions includes:
a) The Railway Level Crossing Unit: The aim of the programme is to ensure safety at railway level crossings. The implementation resulted in the establishment of such level crossing units in high incident zones across provinces, in collaboration with Transnet, our Rail Freight Agency.
b) Enhancement of compliance: The introduction of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO Act) that promotes road traffic quality by providing for a scheme to discourage road traffic contraventions and to facilitate the adjudication of road traffic infringements. c) Strategic Law Enforcement: The National Rolling Enforcement Plan is a consolidated programme by the Traffic Authorities throughout the country and offers a centralised reporting and monitoring framework.
d) Fighting Fraud and Corruption: The establishment of the National Traffic AntiFraud and Corruption Unit within the RTMC to combat acts of fraud and corruption by collaborating with other law enforcement agencies has resulted in several prosecutions for unlawful acts across the traffic environment.
e) Law Enforcement in SADC: The Cross Border Road Transport Agency is mandated to facilitate unimpeded movement of passengers and goods within the SADC region. Since 2013 the Agency has hosted several member states as part of its exchange programmes trail some of which are Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland and Mozambique. In all these activities the Agency sponsored solid support in both regional and national road safety programmes.
Programme Director, The Department created a mass community movement of road safety activism known as the Road Safety Community Councils which was officially launched at a national level in 2010. These are ordinary community members committed extraordinary to working with government very closely at the provincial level advocating for safety on the roads and proclaiming a ZERO-tolerance message.
They are often the first to arrive at any scene of a crash happening in the townships (residential areas). The department facilitated training for all these men and women of the Community Councils so that they empowered and knowledgeable about what to do first at the scene of a crash while waiting for the traffic officials and emergency services.
The department through its entity the RTIA further established the interfaith based organisation which consists of all faith based groups. Similarly, they too, preach the gospel according to road safety on weekly basis and mobilise on an ongoing basis in their respective denominations seeking to convert the attitude of their very own in so far as road safety is concerned.
The department through its one form of public transport known as taxis under SANTACO, organised a special program called HLOKOMELA (meaning Be Alert) whose target audience are the taxi commuters and the drivers as well as the operators. This program reminds the operators and drivers about the importance of self-regulation, and to apply all the rules of the road. The passengers also are advised to stay alert during the trip to avoid deaths as a result of fatigued drivers. As a result of the Road Safety Summit conducted in 2013, in June 2015 the department established the Road Safety Advisory Council.
This is a special Advisory body that consists of few members most of whom have a high social standing. The Advisory Councils are representing different sectors such as business sector, academic sector, youth sector, engineering sector and so forth. The Advisory Council will be advising the Ministry of Transport on additional techniques and mechanisms to employ from time to time to combat road carnage.
The department through the RTMC has also appointed a number of soccer stars and celebrities such as local TV stars to serve as road safety ambassadors. These personalities have a huge following ranging from youth to pensioners and are opinionated. What they say largely influence the behaviour of people in general and more of what they will be communicating going forward is road safety. There are also various well known musicians that have joined force with the Department in putting a stop to the high road carnage.
Lastly, as a country we believe that road safety is what you do with the people not what you do for the people.
The country’s post-crash care programme including the pre-hospital care systems place an emphasis on pre-empting and prevention of road fatalities and disabilities. The entity of the Department, the Road Accident Fund is mandated to provide cover to all road users within the borders of South Africa. A single medical tariff under the Road Accident Fund (RAF) ensures equitable access to emergency medical treatment as per set tariff to all victims of crashes.
Through the RAF Act, government’s crash care system starts from providing emergency care cover from the scene of the crash, transportation to hospital, the cost for hospital treatment, as well as victim reintegration and rehabilitation as part of the post recovery treatment interventions. RAF provides a compulsory cover to all road crash victims for medical, loss of support, loss of income, general damages and funeral costs. This helps provide a social and economic safety net for road crash victims and their families who are in need of rehabilitation, trauma care, and psychological counselling.
The Department through RAF further provides for social reintegration of road crash victims through dedicated case management, home-based care, counselling as well as provide for past, current, and future medical undertaking expenses. In conclusion South Africa is aware that there is still a lot of work to be done to reduce not only the crash and fatality rates in terms of road traffic deaths per population, or deaths per the number of registered vehicles or the distance travelled, but also in terms of real straight figures.
Road crashes are amongst the main causes of death in South Africa. They have serious ramifications to the economy; the emergency and health cost along with lost economic output is significant. The estimated cost of road crashes is estimated at billions of rands per annum. Our continued commitment to the reduction of road fatalities by 50% as outlined in the Decade of Action for road safety will see a drastic shift in the implementation of various provisions and models for the acceleration and implementation of sustainable road safety programmes.
Key to these is an increase in educational road safety programmes to ensure our road users know how to stay safe, and keep others around them safe mainly the changed behaviour and attitudes of our road users and that will be supported by intensified law enforcement to deal with those who put other road user lives in danger.
Eventually, we want to see a culture of voluntary compliance in South Africa and we will get there. As a recommendation going forward, the multidisciplinary approach will be undertaken in order to create a safer road environment by fostering partnerships and increasing the participation of all strata of society to enable the drastic reduction in the number of road fatalities.
Road safety is in every citizen’s interest and given that safety starts with an individual road user itself, whether motorist, passenger or pedestrian, the involvement of the entire civil society on an on-going basis can never be overstated. The fight against road crashes is yet to be won, and we envision a future where our people feel safe and secure on our roads.
As South Africa we will continue to engage robustly, honestly and come up with a diagnosis that will help us to stop the body count and contribute to increasing the life expectancy of our people. We believe that through working together we can be able to improve our road safety record as a country, continent and the world in line with our strategic objective of building a better Africa and a better world. Let us continue to work together as an African Continent and the world at large to make road safety everybody’s responsibility. We dare not falter and victory is certain.
Let’s talk! I thank you!
Source: Government of South Africa