Address at the handover of the Torch of Peace and release of the 2010/11 Road Traffic Statistics Department of Transport Offices, Pretoria by Mr Sibusiso Ndebele, MP Minister of Transport

11 Jan 2011

Programme dDirector, Advocate James Mlawu
Minister for Basic Education, Honorable Ms Angie Motshekga
MECs
Director-General, Mr George Mahlalela
Acting CEO of the RTMC, Mr Collins Letsoalo
All departmental officials
Members of the South African Police Service and traffic officials
Distinguished guests
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen

Today's event has two purposes. The first is to hand over the Torch of Peace to Minister of Basic Education Ms Angie Motshekga. The second purpose is to report on progress with South Africa's "Make Roads Safe" campaign and the National Rolling Enforcement Plan (NREP).

Torch of Peace

The Torch of Peace has become a symbol of our country's national campaign to combat violence against women and children. It has evolved to represent a rallying point for the creation of a more caring, more humane and safer South Africa.

When we received the Torch of Peace in December 2010 in Durban from the Minister of Women, Children and People living with Disabilities, Ms Lulu Xingwana, we appealed to every South African to value human life.

Year-in and year-out, a minority among us are responsible for the ghastly crashes which occur on our roads. The reduction of road deaths is no longer just desirable; it is an urgent non-negotiable.

Make roads safe campaign

On 1 October 2010 we embarked on the "Make Roads Safe" campaign and new National Rolling Enforcement Plan. This marked the start of a major law enforcement drive in South Africa and reflects government's commitment to reducing road carnage by half, in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the United Nations Decade of Action (from 2011 to 2020) against road deaths.

From 1 October 2010 to 3 January 2011, almost 4.5 million (4 429 095) vehicles and drivers have been checked and more than 2 million fines issued for various traffic offences. This is well above the million-a-month target announced in October 2010.

Festive season report

The 2010/11 festive season started on Wednesday, 1 December 2010 and continued until today Tuesday, 11 January 2011. During the festive period, we experienced the biggest increase in traffic volumes on the main routes leading out of Gauteng. The N1 north and south, the N3 towards KwaZulu-Natal and the N4 towards Mpumalanga recorded some of the highest traffic volumes.

During December 2010, law enforcement activities included 852 roadblocks country-wide, where a total of 1 608 548 vehicles were stopped and checked.

This led to:

• 5822 vehicles being impounded / suspended / discontinued
• 9 182 drivers were arrested
• 332 arrested for drunk driving
• 100 for reckless driving
• 415 for excessive speed
• 23 for overloading
• 553 189 fines issued for various offences.

Last year (2009/10), we reported that there were 1 582 fatalities out of 1 247 fatal crashes during the festive season. By the time we finalised last year's festive season report, the number of fatalities had increased to 1 761 from 1 December 2009 to 11 January 2010. Between 1 December 2010 and 8 January 2011, 1 221 fatal crashes had occurred resulting in 1 551 fatalities.

The major contributory factors to the 2010/11 festive season fatal crashes include:

• Speeding
• Overtaking when not safe to do so
• Fatigue
• Overloading
• Tyre burst.

The three major accidents were as follows:

• KwaZulu-Natal - Mtubatuba, between a minibus and midi-bus on 23 December 2010 with 20 fatalities
• KwaZulu-Natal - Utrecht, single vehicle overturned (minibus) with 11 fatalities
• Mpumalanga - Witbank, single vehicle overturned (minibus) with 11 fatalities.

The preliminary provincial breakdown of fatal crashes is as follows:

• KwaZulu-Natal (232)
• Gauteng (200)
• Eastern Cape (169)
• Limpopo (155)
• Western Cape (127)
• Mpumalanga (115)
• North West (98)
• Free State (90)
• Northern Cape (35)

Over the past month, 415 motorists were arrested for excessive speed. These include:

• Last Saturday, 8 January 2011, a speedster was arrested for travelling at 208km/h and being three times over the legal alcohol limit on the N1 south near Johannesburg
• On Thursday, 6 January 2011 last week, a Human Resources Officer was caught speeding at 221km/h on the N4 near Garankua
• Free State MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Dan Kgothule was arrested for speeding at 235km/h in a 120km/h zone. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a fine of R20 000 in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court.

Which 1 000 is it going to be this month?

While South Africa experiences road deaths in the thousands, countries with similar colonial histories such as New Zealand and Australia see fewer fatalities. In Australia, only 120 people are killed on the roads every month. In New Zealand, only 20 people die on the roads each month. In the case of South Africa, more than 1 000 people are killed every month, over 13 000 annually.

The question every South African must ask is: who is it going to be this month? Which 1 000 is it going to be in February 2011; which 1 000 in March; which 1 000 in April? Is it going to be your neighbour, your loved one? In any event, it is going to be a fellow citizen.

Who among you are ready to be among the over 1000 people who will definitely be killed on our roads over the next month and the following month, and the month thereafter?

For this reason, we talk of carnage on South Africa's roads. Carnage refers to the violent killing or slaughter of a large number of people. It is this certainty - that so many are going to die on our roads - which we must stop. In Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other countries they rightly talk of accidents. An accident happens by accident.

There was a time when these countries were in a similar position as we are today. They decided that extraordinary measures had to be taken. These had to do with driver training, enforcement, engineering and education. But a large part was about public awareness and a realisation that road deaths are not natural. South Africa will get there.

Our goal is for South Africa to fail to kill and maim healthy individuals in their thousands whom we condemn to wheelchairs every day, every month, every year. This is what will measure our success, this particular failure.

We are a country that has emerged from the abyss of apartheid. Emerging from that, we have become a model of peace and tolerance. We were once a nation of shameless public smokers. Yet, we managed to pull ourselves from that.

We have adopted several measures, which we have no doubt, will help us deal with this challenge of road carnage, including:

• The first call is that all South Africans and road users must no longer be by-standers. We must all become active participants by joining our Voluntary Traffic Observer Programme at http://www.rtmc.co.za or by calling the RTMC Call Centre on 0861 400 800. Report traffic offenders
• We therefore welcome the taxi industry's initiative led by the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO), for implementing its own HLOKOMELA campaign. Through this campaign, the taxi industry pledges to do everything to promote road safety for commuters, drivers and operators. The taxi industry is not a bystander but is active in the reduction of road accidents
• We have also made amendments to the national Road Traffic Act. In addition to a fine and/or imprisonment, the national Road Traffic Act now places a duty on the courts to suspend or disqualify driving licences
• As of 20 November 2010, driving over the prescribed speed by more than 30km/h within an urban area and more than 40km/h outside an urban area may result in the suspension or cancellation of your driving licence. In the case of a first offence, for a period of at least six months; a second offence, for a period of at least five years; or a third or subsequent offence, for a period of at least ten years
• This Amendment of section 35 of Act 93 of 1996 further states; "If a court convicting any person of an offence referred to in subsection (1) is satisfied, after the presentation of evidence under oath, that circumstances relating to the offence exist which do not justify the suspension or disqualification referred to in subsection (1) or (2), respectively, the court may, notwithstanding the provisions of those subsections, order that the suspension or disqualification shall not take effect, or shall be for such shorter period as the court may (deem) consider fit."
• In this regard last Friday ,7 January 2011, I had a discussion with the Minister of Justice Mr. Jeff Radebe regarding this matter. We agreed to ensure that all courts are aware of these amendments
• We also have plans together with the Department of Basic Education and provinces, to introduce road safety education as part of the life skills curriculum at schools, towards ensuring that every Grade 11 learner will have a learner's licence and every 18-year-old a driving licence. We have also introduced the following measures to deal with road deaths:
• The NREP will become a permanent feature of life in South Africa from now on
• In collaboration with two of our agencies, the Department of Transport will further expand visible traffic policing with the introduction of a specialized Law Enforcement Unit on national roads. This unit will commence operations from April 2011 in Gauteng as a pilot project, and will support other law enforcement agencies. Over the past six months, training of 250 traffic officers for the enforcement unit took place. These officers will conclude their training by March 2011. With this enforcement unit in place, the Department of Transport is confident that road user behaviour and compliance with rules of the road will improve.

In order to monitor progress, provinces, districts, local municipalities, villages and community road safety councils will become the focus of our campaign. Every square inch of our provinces will feel our presence. Each district will report to us on a regular basis how many accidents took place in its jurisdiction and what the causes are so we can deal with those issues. If a district has trouble with drunk driving or speeding, we can deploy our national enforcement unit to these trouble spots, in order to really deal with the carnage on our roads.

However, once there is a death, we will also be on hand through our Road Accident Fund to assist the affected families and survivors. The victims of road accidents will never be alone. Road safety is not what the Department of Transport does to a community; it is what we do together with the community. As we hand over the Torch of Peace today, we say 2011-2020, a Decade of Activism for Road Safety. Be part of it!

Thank you!

Statement issued by Department of Transport, January 11 2011

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter