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At least 14000 people are killed on our roads every day. This means that at least 1000 every month and 40 every day. This September over 2000 people were killed on our roads. In comparison, Australia has 1600 deaths a year. This was not always the case.

More than 30 years ago, Australia's road toll dropped from over 3,000 deaths per year, to around 1,750. Of particular importance about the Australian road accidents is that in 2003, people most commonly killed on the roads were young people, particularly males between 18 and 25years.

In the United Kingdom (UK) government this year is mooting the increase of the national speed limit from 70mph to 80mph (110km to 120km per hour). This will come into effect in 2013. The announcement coincided with the release of Department for Transport accident figures for 2010, which show that road casualties have fallen significantly for the third year in a row to just under 3000 per year.

Road deaths were reduced by 17 percent compared to 2009, while overall injuries went down by six percent. The UK Department for Transport said factors influencing the downward trend included improved vehicle safety, better road engineering and falling traffic levels for the last three years and continued reduction in free flow speeds.

A look at the rest of Africa shows why this has become a crisis.
In 2002, traffic crashes cost Uganda and Malawi an estimated 2.3% and 5%, respectively, of their gross domestic product.
In the 1990s, they were estimated to cost Cote d'Ivoire 1% of the country's GDP every year.
In Kenya, 75% of all traffic crash deaths involve economically active adults, leaving behind vulnerable and dependent families. In South Africa, approximately 14 000 people are killed every year, 1 000 every month, 250 per week and 40 every day, costing at least R60 billion per annum.
So, two countries - Australia and the UK, with similar geography and car usage patterns, have radically fewer road deaths than South Africa and the rest of the continent. So, it is clear we are facing an abnormal situation. Road accidents have become a national crisis!

In April 2011 we joined the world to launch a global movement against road accidents. The Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 is a global declaration of war against road crashes and fatalities which has been launched by the United Nations.

The death of approximately 1.3 million people every year on the world's roads is a crisis. The death of 14 000 people every year, the death of at least 1 000 people every month, the death of no less than 40 people every day on South Africa's roads must be seen as a crisis requiring an extraordinary response.

No one represents the fight against apartheid than our founding President Mr Nelson Mandela. In 1969, when Nelson Mandela was on life imprisonment on Robben Island, he received news that his eldest son, Thembekile, had been killed in a road accident.

Many years later, as a retired President, Mr Mandela was to experience the same loss again when, as South Africa celebrated the opening of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, his great-grand-daughter Zenani died tragically in a road accident. Writing about the loss of his son in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, Mr Mandela expresses the feelings of many today who have lost loved ones in road carnage when he says and I quote:

"I do not have words to express the sorrow, or the loss I felt. It left a hole in my heart that can never be filled".

As part of this global movement last year we were in London for the launch of the Make Roads Safe Time for Action report of the Commission for Global Safety and the launch of the Zenani Mandela Road Safety Scholarship.

Through the Decade of Action, Member States, with the support of the international community, commit to actions in areas such as developing and enforcing legislation on key risk factors such as: limiting speed reducing drunk-driving increasing the use of seatbelts, child restraints and motorcycle helmets.

This initiative comes on the heels of the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, which we attended and addressed, hosted by the Government of the Russian Federation in November 2009. Earlier on 8 July 2009, we addressed the "Make Roads Safe Africa 2009" conference in Dar es Salaam in the Republic of Tanzania.

Hundreds of delegates from different parts of the world attended the conference, which was hosted by the Make Roads Safe Campaign, the World Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, under the theme, "Call for a Decade of Action for Road Safety in Africa."

We are part of the Decade of Action 2011-2020 and we have undertaken to do the following: Finalisation and implementation of South Africa's National Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan for 2011-2020, in consultation with government, business and civil society.

The strategy focuses on better utilisation of human and financial resources across spheres of government to address road deaths. Each province, each district municipality and each local municipality must report every month on the number of road accidents occurring in their area, what the causal factors are and how these are being addressed. The new National Rolling Enforcement Plan (NREP) commenced as of 1 October 2010 1 million vehicles and drivers are being stopped and checked every month, 250000 per week and some 35000 per day.

On 15 April 2011, Traffic Officers who form part of South Africa's first National Traffic Intervention Unit commenced duty. This unit is being deployed to high accident frequency locations and traffic hotspots across the country. We are embarking on a massive education and communication campaign on road safety. We are making progress towards ensuring that road safety education forms part of the life skills curriculum at schools, towards ensuring that every Grade 11 learner will have a learner's licence and every 18-year-old a driving licence.

On 5-7 October we are hosted the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Ministers of Transport and Meteorology conference. During this meeting we adopted the SADC Plan for the Decade of Action and launch the Decade in the region. As part of the SADC initiative we are harmonizing our traffic information systems, by making available our Electronic National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS).

We want eNatis to be adopted by all of SADC in order to have one system of vehicle identification across the region. We want to propose a total ban on consuming alcohol whilst driving for certain categories of people and lower the current legal alcohol limit. We want to also introduce night time and hazardous condition driving as part of the licencing process. We have recently announced the planned reduction of speed to 100km. Through this we have begun a debate in South African about road safety. We want to know what South Africans think we must do to end road carnage.

The 2011 October Transport Month (OTM) places emphasis on public and freight transport safety. The 2011 OTM focuses on three areas: Road safety, Public transport and the Provision of road infrastructure. During this 2011 OTM campaign please remember that as users of public transport you have rights as citizens of this country.

Nobody can coerce or pressurize you into boarding an unroadworthy or unsafe vehicle. You are responsible for your own safety and this should not be compromised. Take charge of your safety.

We have rolled out Road Safety Councils to organize our communities so they can be the key drivers of our campaign for road safety. Join the RSC in your area and become an active participant to stop these deaths. Road deaths will end when we have solid partnerships with organised labour, business, the religious community, civil society as well as other formations to end the carnage on our roads.

Road accidents will end when our communities decide they must end. We thank the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) which has become a valuable partner in this journey. SANTACO must be commended for their Operation Hlokomela, through which the taxi industry leadership are monitoring their drivers and operators to ensure they adhere to road rules.

Learners as you "Tweet; Mix it; Facebook and BBM" please make road safety the subject of your conversation. Continue to converse about being responsible road users. It is a deadly battle out there. Take Care. Take Part. The UN Decade of Action 2011-2020, be a part of it.