Over 1300 people died on South Africa's roads last festive season.
Over 1300 people died on South Africa's roads last festive season.
Transport Minister, Dipuo Peters, has called on motorists and pedestrians to be more vigilant and change their behaviour on the country’s roads as the festive season approaches.
Speaking to Khayelitsha residents at a community event to commemorate World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims (15 November), the Minister said the majority of all incidents on the roads were due to human negligence as a result of traffic violations.
“From statistics, we have deduced that 95% of crashes occur due to recklessness and someone violating traffic laws," said Peters.
“The people who die on our roads are people we know … people die in busses, others in the trains, other people die walking on the roads.
These people are family members. We are talking about providers. We are talking about leaders of churches. We are talking about brothers, sisters, friends, colleagues and people who matter in everybody’s lives,” she said.
The Minister said for the situation to improve, motorists need to change their driving behaviour.
“I would like to ask that we change our behaviour and attitudes for the better when we use the roads, especially as we approach the festive season.”
She said the number of accidents increase over the festive season and at the long Easter weekend.
Minister Peters appealed to the various church leaders to not only pray for motorists to be safe on the roads, but to also preach safety on the roads in their places of worship.
“Let us tell the people that if we don’t speed, if we don’t drive recklessly and disobey the rules of the road, if we don’t speak on cell phone[s]while we drive, [we can reduce carnage on our roads].”
She further requested that they encourage people to drive roadworthy vehicles.
Accompanied by Deputy Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, MECs and CEOs of transport entities as well as other transport stakeholders, the Minister laid wreaths to remember those who perished on the roads.
She also mentioned a number of well-known South Africans who have recently died on the country’s roads, including former Ajax Cape Town defender Cecil Sonwabile Lolo, who died during a car crash on October 25 on Spine Road in Khayelitsha and musician Lebo Mathosa, who died in 2006 in a car crash near Germiston, east of Johannesburg.
South Africa was also robbed of former Public Service and Administration Minister Collins Chabane, who died along with two of his staff when his vehicle collided with a truck outside Polokwane in March this year.
– SAnews.gov.za
