STATEMENT BY S'BU NDEBELE AT THE EASTER ROAD SAFETY LAUNCH IN KWAZULU-NATAL

9 April 2001

Recently, we had two major events in this province - the first at Mpumalanga in mid-February the national launch of the Pedestrian Awareness Campaign, and the second in Madadeni at the end of March, to highlight Pedestrian week. The second launch also gave communities the opportunity to see the engineering work being done in Stafford Link Road, which is one of the identified hazardous locations for pedestrians.

Today, here at Cato Ridge, during a roadblock we have conducted just from 08h00 - 12h00, we have stopped 188 vehicles with 38 unpaid notices and 26 summons.

Figures recently received from the National Department of Transport indicate that during the five days over the Easter weekend in 1999, 35 people in KwaZulu-Natal lost their lives. During the same period in 2000, this figure was reduced to 28 - a saving of 7 lives -which is more than a life every day over this short period. This is a 20% reduction, and even supersedes our overall reduction of 16% in fatal crashes between 1998 and 1999.

This is more than our target of a 14% per annum reduction in fatalities over a five-year period, and indicates that we are on track to achieving our saving of 3,500 lives and R4.1 billion by the end of 2002 in our road safety programme.

Our Asiphephe Holiday Planning Committee co-ordinates work in terms of our overall strategy to enforce, educate, engineer and evaluate road safety measures. The group met on 6 March this year to ensure all stakeholders are involved in the planning and implementation process, for the Easter weekend of 12-16 April and for the weekend of 26 April to 1 May. I am pleased to announce the following activities :

These are to be established at various places throughout the Province to assist motorists with information, to act as a safe rest stop for tired motorists and to report reckless and bad driving. The Help Centres will be situated at: 

Van Reenens Pass N3
North Coast N2 
South Coast N2 
Cato Ridge N3 
Eshowe/Melmoth 
Demona Route

These multidisciplinary help centres will be operated on a 24-hour basis during the above identified peak periods.

The Arrive Alive programme focuses on speeding motorists, drunken driving, non-wearing of seatbelts and careless pedestrians. There will be a 127 enforcement exercises during this period. All drivers who are stopped for speeding will automatically be checked for alcohol, drivers license and usage of safety belts, as well as for illegal cellphone usage.

The Deputy Director Prosecutions has issued a written instruction to all the Public Prosecutors in the various traffic courts in KwaZulu-Natal that no fine may be reduced or withdrawn without his instruction.

Various traffic courts will be on standby during the Easter period to deal with serious offenders and the Road Traffic Inspectorate is at present negotiating with the Department of Justice to establish road side courts at the various sites which at this stage will not be disclosed for obvious reasons.

Netcare, AEMS, MRI and Tolcon N 3TC will have ambulances and helicopters on standby at strategic points to ensure a quick response when accidents happen. Research has shown that the first hour is the "golden hour" and it is vital that cases of serious injury are attended to within this period.

The Road Traffic Inspectorate's Special Operations Group will cover all areas that require additional enforcement assistance, which is not usually covered by the Local Authority and RTI patrols. In this respect the Directorate Road Safety has allocated an additional R90 000,00 for the Department's Booze Bus and Special Operations.

On Saturday 74 constables qualified from the Durban Metro Police College.

At least 60% of all fatalities within KwaZulu-Natal take place in the Durban Metropolitan area. The Durban Metro Police, RTI Pinetown and RTI Winklespruit will be responsible to enforce and detect reckless and negligent drivers within this area.

Booze Bus operations will take place in the areas which do not usually receive enforcement. The Road Safety Directorate sponsors these operations. Community Road Safety Councils will also be involved in the selection of sites. A register at each Road Traffic Inspectorate station has been established to monitor the liaison between the enforcement agencies and the Community Road Safety Councils.

Members will hold special awareness campaigns at various taxi ranks, together with prayer services. Road Safety material focusing on alcohol, speed, seatbelts and passenger rights will be distributed.

Various taverns have been identified and will be visited by the Road Safety Directorate during peak periods with alcohol road safety messages. This programme is aimed at raising pedestrian awareness of the dangers of alcohol abuse when utilising the roads.

During the period 10-11 April 2001 AM Live (SABC) will be giving live coverage in respect to road safety issues in KWAZulu-Natal. Various interviews will be conducted with the emergency services and other role-players. Helicopter news reports will cover the N3 from Midmar to Van Reenen Pass.

The Road Safety Directorate is negotiating with Drakensberg Promotions to participate in the Jazz Festival taking place on 14 April 2001 at the King's Park Soccer Stadium, with artists like Hugh Masekela, Busi Mhlongo, Sipho Gumede, Jimy Dludin, Don Laka and Mfiliseni Magubane and other local acts. At this festival various aspects of road safety will be emphasised.

There will be close liaison between the Education and Communication sections of the Road Safety Directorate, Enforcement Agencies and the local electronic and print media.

The Media will be invited during these high profile peak periods to observe road patrols.

At present there are 50 taxis branded with road safety messages. Commuta FM and Star Taxi Music are in partnership with the Road Safety Directorate for this purpose. The drivers of the branded taxis have signed an agreement and pledge with the Directorate to obey road safety rules. This type of advertising is a very important tool to carry the message to the targeted market. The impact of the advertising on taxis has been enormous in assisting the Department in to carrying the message to the people. 2506 calls that were received by the Mpimpa line since it's inception on 18 October 2000. The calls that have been recorded are now being compiled into a CD and a follow up on crucial ones will be made. During the identified Easter peak periods motorists will be encouraged to utilise the Mpimpa hotline.

On 13 April 2001 various churches will gather at the Umlazi, King Zwelithini Stadium where members of the Road Safety Directorate, in partnership with Ukhozi FM and other role-players, will be disseminating road safety messages and distributing road safety literature.

All these activities indicate that we have planned and will implement a very comprehensive schedule of events for this holiday period, and when we talk about Zero Tolerance in KwaZulu Natal we mean just that. We aim to continue to reduce fatalities and serious and disabling injuries still further, upholding our "best practice in Road Safety" reputation and maintaining our position as road safety leaders in this country, and indeed within most of the developing world. Not only road are users in our own province, but those visiting our beautiful region, are starting to understand that they must "OBEY THE RULES, OR PAY THE PRICE". This understanding is changing behaviour and saving lives, which is our aim.

Through the effective co-operation of all role players, a proper co-ordination of our efforts and a holistic approach we believe that we are definitely achieving our objective, and reducing levels of trauma on our roads.

On Wednesday the SAPS/SANDF Joint Operations Centre (JOC) launched a new updated contingency plan for transport-related violence. This plan has been distributed to all area structures of the SAPS/SANDF, RTI, CTC and other emergency services.

The contingency plan is undersigned by the SAPS Provincial Commissioner, the General Officer Commanding, the SANDF Joint Task Force and sets the tone for no nonsense dealing with blockades and other transport related violence. The plan is effective with immediate effect.

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