MEDIA STATEMENT

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Mr S'bu Ndebele is both alarmed and concerned by the past week's excessively high accident rate in KwaZulu-Natal, which left about 12 people dead during the week-end alone.

From Friday (2000/06/30) to Sunday (2000/07/02), the KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) attended to 36 accidents around the province. This figure excludes many other collisions that were reported in several other areas in the province.

In one of the worst accidents, six minibus-taxi passengers burnt to death in a horror smash near Marianhill in the early hours of Sunday morning (2000/07/02), when the minibus in which they were travelling slammed head-on into a car travelling in the opposite direction. The driver of the car was also killed.

It is cause for great concern that in only one week, the road collision fatalities are so many, caused mainly through driver error. With all the media attention and public focus on the Arrive Alive and Asiphephe campaigns, one would expect drivers to be consciously aware of road safety. However, it seems that motorists still disregard the messages we are bombarding them with. Our emergency services personnel are being stretched to the limit, rushing from one crash site to another. The soaring collision rate has placed an enormous strain on our staff and resources.

The spate of collisions involving heavy vehicles is also reaching ridiculous proportions. It is puzzling why there is a sudden upsurge in the number of collisions involving heavy vehicles at a time when road safety has been made a national priority through the Arrive Alive campaign. In a period of one week, at least seven major heavy motor vehicle collisions were reported in the province.

These crashes do not only cause loss of live but also result in major routes being closed to traffic for several hours. This is a huge disruption to other motorists including holiday makers.

During a province-wide blitz between Friday and Sunday (2000/06/30 - 2000/07/02), the KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate issued more than 6000 fines for various traffic offences. Of this figure, more than 5000 were for speed-related offences.

Our resources are currently deployed to monitor the July Holiday season traffic. However, road accidents draw all emergency services away from these assigned duties for several hours. People who drive recklessly over this period don't seem to realize the consequences of their negligence and disregard for road laws. They not only risk their own lives but also endanger the lives of other road users.

We therefore urge all road users to comply with the rules of the road. Breaking the traffic laws is not only dangerous; it is costing the country lives. The trauma that is brought about by these collisions is unbearable. Let every South African commit to promote road safety and save lives.

For further information and enquiries please contact Vijen Murugan on
082 808 1733.

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