In his keynote address at the memorial service of the 20 people who died in Tuesday's crash on the N1 between Laingsburg and Beaufort West, MEC for Transport, Roads and Public Works, Thandiswa Marawu, said motor vehicles had become "the deadliest weapons of mass destruction in recent history”.
In his keynote address at the memorial service of the 20 people who died in Tuesday's crash on the N1 between Laingsburg and Beaufort West, MEC for Transport, Roads and Public Works, Thandiswa Marawu, said motor vehicles had become "the deadliest weapons of mass destruction in recent history”.
In his statement, Marawu said research showed that:
* Africa's road deaths of more than 200 000 annually would rise by 80% by 2020;
* By 2015 road crashes will be the number-one killer of children aged 5-14 in Africa, outstripping malaria and HIV/Aids.
* In South Africa, road crashes result in at least 40 deaths a day, 1 000 deaths a month and 14 000 a year, leaving scores injured.
* Globally, road crashes account for 1.3 million deaths. The carnage is estimated to cost more than R60 billion to the domestic economy.
“This means that we must act and act now!” Marawu said. With the launch of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020, road safety has moved from being a national and continental issue to being a global challenge.
“As we move towards the festive season, we will intensify 'Operation Asihleki', which is our provincial campaign that contributes to the National Rolling Enforcement Plan," Marawu said, explaining that Eastern Cape law-enforcement agencies were expected to stop and screen 85 000 vehicles a month.
Since the start of the implementation of NREP in October 2010, more than one million vehicles had been stopped and screened in the province. “I would like to salute all our law-enforcement agencies, particularly traffic officers for this achievement,” Marawu said.
“I hope this service will help our traffic officers to understand us when we say they must start to work 24/7 in an effort to protect the lives of our people.” Marawu said the latest NREP report showed that 12 015 public transport vehicles had been discontinued or impounded to date, which included 1 910 buses and 2 239 taxis.
“This festive season, I would to appeal to long-distance vehicle owners to ensure that they have at least two drivers per vehicle, in order to deal with the challenge of fatigue,” Marawu said. He urged commuters to play a role by informing law-enforcement agencies of any problems they encountered on the roads through the Customer Care Centre toll-free number, 0800 644 644.
