The National Youth Development Agency has teamed up with the Road Accident Fund (RAF) in a campaign to make South Africa's roads safer.
The National Youth Development Agency has teamed up with the Road Accident Fund (RAF) in a campaign to make South Africa's roads safer.
South Africa’s roads are a death trap – a fact brought into focus again on 10 January 2017, when Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters released the preliminary 2016/17 festive season road safety statistics.
A total of 1 714 fatalities were recorded – a 5% increase from the previous year. 40% of the fatalities were passengers and 34% were pedestrians.
Driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to wear a seatbelt, using cellular phones while driving, excessive speeding, disregarding road conditions and signs are among the biggest causes.
"Most drivers understand what is expected of them behind the wheel and choose to ignore their responsibility," says Khathu Ramukumba, CEO of the National Youth Development Agency.
"With the department having run campaigns from the beginning of the year until the last days of the festive season, we are left to wonder why the results have not turned out differently," Ramukumba said.
Despite the fact that a number of stakeholders had supported the quest to reduce road fatalities, the results had not been positive.
"Maybe it time that we take the bull by the horns and question the roles we play as individuals," Ramukumba said.
"The government, with a handful of stakeholders, cannot achieve road safety alone. People must ask themselves what has been their role in the Arrive Alive campaign, or any other road safety awareness initiative."
He welcomed the Department of Transport's proposal to strengthen existing partnerships within and without the government to maximise the impact of the public education and awareness programmes and said the NYDA had signed a Cooperation Agreement with the RAF to:
- Embark on joint national campaigns for the purpose of promoting road safety with the intention of changing youth road-using behaviour.
- Collaborate in education on defensive driving and basic first aid support to passengers and drivers in cases of emergency or a crash.
- Partner on initiatives that will benefit the young people of South Africa through the RAF.
The following projects will be rolled out in 2017, coming out of this cooperation agreement:
- A National Youth Service project in which youth volunteers, paid stipends, are trained to fix potholes, erect speed humps in communities and do road markings.
- The Learner Driver Programme funded by RAF in which young people are assisted to obtain their driving licenses. Recruitment for this initiative took place in the latter part of 2016.
- Collaboration in Social Dialogues held in communities to teach the youth about their responsibility on the road, road safety and the dangers of drunk driving, reckless driving and texting while driving.
Seven dialogues had taken place since August 2016 in six provinces, Ramukumba said.
"This year will see a continuation of this initiative and partnering with local municipalities. We hope this initiative will have an impact on the young people being more responsible on the road as well as teach their families and communities to become safe road users," Ramukumba said.
The NYDA also has a partnership with South African Breweries (SAB) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on the You Decide Campaign TV series – a comprehensive campaign aimed at tackling underage drinking.
"Drinking and driving or walking on the road is one of the major contributors to road fatalities," said Ramukumba.
"We have joined hands to tackle head-on one of the biggest challenges that confront our youth and the future of this country, which is alcohol abuse. We believe that young people should be addicted to education and not alcohol, it should be the book before the bottle for any learner.
"It still remains the responsibility of all South African to adhere to road safety measures, as well as the rules and regulations," Ramukumba said.
"We need everyone alive in order for us to make moving South Africa forward a reality for all."
