SPEECH BY THE KWAZULU-NATAL MEC OF TRANSPORT, MR S'BU NDEBELE, AT THE SUMMER HOLIDAY ROAD SAFETY LAUNCH,

27 November 2001, Mooi River Toll Plaza

Master of Ceremonies,
Amakhosi present,
Dean Farisani, Nothern Province MEC for Transport,
Dr Kwazi Mbanjwa, KwaZulu-Natal Head of Transport,
Mayors and Councillors present,
Senior Management and Staff from the KZN Department of Transport,
Members of the SAPS,
Representatives of Community Road Safety Councils and RRTFs,
Chairpersons of the Taxi Councils,
School Principals,
Church leaders,
Distinguished guests,
Members of the media,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending the Summer Holiday Road Safety Launch. As usual before peak holidays, we have made it part of our yearly programme to unveil activities entailed in our Summer Holiday Road Safety Programme. To this end, I want to give an outline of major steps that we will be taking to save lives during this festive season and beyond. I will also be handing over to the SAPS today, a very innovative instrument, called the Drager Evidential Breathalyser that will assist us in our fight against drunken driving.

The use of this device will help police officers eradicate the protracted and frustrating process of trying to prove that a driver was drunk. Currently, in order to ensure that the culprit is brought to book, the police are faced with the daunting task of locating the nearest local district surgeon or traffic department that has appropriate Evidential Breathalysers. Worse still, the blood sample has then to be sent to the forensic laboratories in Pretoria for analysis, a process that often proves favourable to the culprit as the results could take up to six months to be finalised. This often results in the acquittal of the accused in the court of law since the original alcohol content in the blood system diminishes with the passage of time. Thus the issuing of Evidential Breathalysers to the SAPS will effectively close a critical loophole in the law enforcement process, and give more teeth to the KZN Department of Transport's Asiphephe - Zero tolerance Road Safety Strategies.

Moreover, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, together with the Directorate of Public Prosecutions will work together in establishing special Mobile Traffic Courts in certain areas where both institutions will also co-operate in handling all proceedings. During the festive season, KwaZulu-Natal is blessed with a huge influx of tourists thus transforming our Province into South Africa's tourism Mecca. It is for this reason that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport will move in full swing to save lives by inculcating the culture of road safety and responsible driving and walking.

During these coming holidays, the N3 corridor from Van Reenen's Pass to Durban experiences high volumes of traffic peaking at an average of 3000 vehicles per hour. The N2 North and the N2 South also carry large volumes of traffic. These facts give an indication of the significance of education, communication and law enforcement when it comes to road safety matters. Public attitudes to road safety constitute the largest single factor impacting on the frequency of serious road accidents. In up to 90% of fatal and injury accidents, human error is a major contributory factor. Our Department has dedicated its efforts towards achieving responsible driving, passenger and pedestrian culture, to induce safe road usage and to save lives. We have prepared a vigorous law enforcement and education campaign to ensure the safety of tourists and everybody in the Province.

Our focus area is that of saving lives and as such, we have devised some mechanisms aimed at reducing road crashes during this festive season. These include:

• OUTDOOR CAMPAIGNS
  
  The KZN Transport Department has commissioned a permanent billboard at Golela (Swaziland Border) to continuously communicate road safety messages to motorists entering KwaZulu-Natal. Arrangements have also been made for:
  
  - 6 x Mobiles - for distances to the border, South Coast, Ulundi and Richards Bay;
  - 6 x Inflatable - Tugela, Oribi, Pongola, marianhill, Gateway and Shelley Beach; and
  - 22 x Static Billboards.

• REST STOPS
  
  These are to be established at various places throughout the Province to assist motorists with information, to act as safe rest stops for tired motorists and to report reckless and bad driving. These rest stops will be operated on a 24-hour basis during peak periods. Their purpose is to provide all motorists with resting place especially on alternate routes to stop and relax for at least ten minutes. The Department of Transport urges all drivers to take a break at least every two hours or 200 kilometres. Rest stops along the N3 corridor will include Van Reenen's Pass, Estcourt Ultra City/Loskop Interchange, Pietermaritzburg, New England Off Ramp and Pinetown.
  
  The N2 North will have the following rest places:

• M4 Ann Arbor Watson Highway;
• R102 Shortland; and
• M25 Duffs Road.

The N2 South will have the following rest places:

• N2 Umtentweni; and
• N2 Bhobhoyi.

Rest stops will also be provided for at strategic points on the alternate routes.

• LONG DISTANCE TAXI DRIVER AWARENESS PROGRAMME
  
  Together with the provincial taxi task team, the KZN Department of Transport will render free vehicle checks to public transport vehicles as from 1 - 9 December 2001. They will reinforce our messages of fatigue, overloading, tyre safety and vehicle fitness.

• TOUR BUS OPERATORS
  
  The owners/operators of tour bus companies will be made aware of vehicle fitness, driving hours and overloading.

• TOLLGATE PROMOTIONS
  
  180 000 Frisbees with relevant road safety messages will be handed out on the N3 at the Wilge, Mooi River and Marianhill Plazas. With an average of four occupants per car, a further 720 000 road users will be reached in this way. 60 000 bags containing Christmas goodies will also be distributed at these points.

• FORECOURT TV
  
  The KZN Transport Department is looking towards reaching an audience of more than two million motorists and holidaymakers from Gauteng before their embarking on holiday journeys to KwaZulu-Natal.

• ROAD BLOCKS
  
  The Department's Road Traffic Inspectorate, together with the SAPS, Durban Metro Police, the SANDF and the various municipalities, will stage co-ordinated, planned, as well as random roadblocks and enforcement exercises throughout the province. Our campaign will focus on speeding motorists, drunken driving, non-wearing of seat belts and careless pedestrians. There will be multi-disciplinary roadblocks as from 7 December to 18 January 2002 with a specific focus on:

• Speed;
• Alcohol; and
• Fatigue.

This means that for instance, all drivers who are stopped for speeding will automatically be checked for alcohol, drivers licence and usage of safety belts, as well as for illegal cell phone usage. Roadside courts will be operational at strategic points. The whole Arrive Alive Festive Season Campaign will run from 29 November 2001 until 12 January 2002. The national Arrive Alive traffic information centre will be fully operational on a 24-hour basis. Education will back up enforcement plans through promotional material that will be distributed to all road users.

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 as well as disabling injuries still further, upholding our "best practice in Road safety" reputation and maintaining our position as road safety leaders in the country, and indeed within most of the developing world. Not only road users in our province, but also those visiting our beautiful region, are beginning to understand that they must "OBEY THE RULES OR PAY THE PRICE". This understanding has already changed people's behaviour and lives are being saved in the process. 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 of saving lives.

In the final analysis, I want to emphasise my warning to anyone who will break traffic laws this season that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is fully equipped and ready to deal with nay form of misbehaviour. If you think of breaking the laws this festive season, please bid your family farewell and start preparing for your long prison sentence. You may run but you may not hide because the world is very small.

I thank you.

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