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The DA is concerned about the road accidents on the province’s roads
especially as the festive season approaches where many holiday makers
will spend a lot of time traveling.

According to the Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison in the
Northern Cape just between January and June 2014, a total of 4 324
accidents were recorded with 170 fatalities which included 7 781
people.

It is extremely worrying to note these figures we cannot accept that
so many people die on our roads. These figures should be reduced
significantly through rigorous law enforcement campaigns to ensure
that we create safer road across the Northern Cape.

It is also concerning that most of the road carnage on our roads is
due to, but not limited to the (a) abuse of alcohol by both drivers
and pedestrians, (b) speeding too high for particular circumstances
leading to loss control and or inability to avoid hazards, (c) use of
cellphones while driving and not wearing seat-belts, (d) dangerous
overtaking at barrier line and or overtaking in the face of oncoming
traffic and (e) vehicle fitness: such as defective tyres as well as
fatigue; no resting after about 200 km of travelling and overnight
driving etc.

These contributing factors are avoidable and require a comprehensive
approach to change attitudes, perception and habits of all road users.

The DA appeals to all road users to obey and respect all road rules
and drive with caution rest where possible and be patient especially
during the festive season.

We also call on the police and traffic officers to be more visible on
the roads and enforce the law at all times.  No stone should be left
unturned to deal with those who disobey road rules, they should face
the full might of the law.

Meanwhile the DA welcomes the proposed intervention from the South
African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) to introduce safety measures
aimed at reducing the high rate of crashes particularly fatal
accidents in the Kimberley area. We have noted serious accidents on
our roads specifically on the intersections on the N12, N8 and R357 as
well as the notorious R31 to Barkley West.

The DA has also noted road safety campaigns and outreach programs
carried out by the department that reached more than 10 000 people
such as door-door, roadblocks, inter denominational church services,
pedestrian safety campaigns, cyclists safety as well the establishment
of regional road safety council across the province.

We believe more still needs to be done in order to reach more people
and we are concerned that the department’s budget of just more than R2
million for road safety programs is not enough to fulfill this role.

More Vehicle Check Points need to be held in the province to minimize
road fatalities as well as more integrated road blocks to ensure road
safety compliance.  Law enforcement agencies should be well
capacitated and resourced in order to render efficient and effective
services. Ours should be a comprehensive action plan going forward if
we seriously want to deal with road safety in the province.

Issued by DA