Date: 26/03/2008
Source: Department of Transport
Title: SA: Vilakazi: Arrive Alive statistics and state of road

Media statement by the North West MEC for Transport, Roads and Community Safety, Phenye Vilakazi, on the occasion of the media conference on Arrive Alive Statistics and the state of the roads held in the province, Mafikeng

Thank you very much for coming to this media conference.

As you may know, we have called this media conference to make announcements on two key issues:

* Easter Arrive Alive statistics and the state of our roads.

When I launched the Easter Arrive Alive Campaign, I indicated the steps that we were going to take to try and reduce road accidents in our province. They included:

* our heavy patrol of accident hotspots, involving our Provincial Traffic, members of the South African Police Service and Municipal Traffic
* road safety education
* inspection of driver and vehicle fitness, including moving violations and vehicle roadworthiness.

We are happy to announce that during the past Easter weekend, we have managed to reduce road fatalities by 29% compared to last year. You might remember that last year we had 21 fatalities but this year, through the hard work and dedication of all those who were involved, the fatalities were reduced to 15.

We are equally elated that fatal crashes have been reduced by a massive 41%. Last year we had 17 of them and this year only 10 occurred. Driver fatalities remain our greatest concern because we have experienced a 60% increase. Last year two drivers were killed but this year the number increased to five. We attribute this increase to fatigue and vehicle fitness.

In terms of passenger fatalities, we have experienced an increase of 14%. Last year we had six passengers killed and this year the number is seven. You might recall that the deaths of passengers have been an area of concern for many years. Now this year, we have recorded an impressive 77% decrease in the number of pedestrians who die on our roads. In 2007, 13 pedestrians lost their lives and this year it went down to three.

We have realised that 50% of the crashes happened between 18:00 in the evening and 06h00 in the morning, whilst the rest happened during the day. This is vital information that will continue to assist us to deploy person power and the necessary equipment accordingly.

We proudly want to attribute this decrease to a vigorous road safety campaign we conducted in various areas of our province. Just last week part of the road safety campaign in Dinokana near Zeerust, we installed chevrons on animal drawn carts and educated a largely passenger crowd about road safety tips. I also personally participated in a road safety campaign on the N4 Highway near Majakaneng and there have been many other such road shows across the province.

I would like to thank our traffic officers from our department and those from municipalities, road safety officers, drivers, pedestrians, passengers and other stakeholders for working with us to drastically reduce fatalities on our roads. I must also thank the media for flashing road safety messages in your radio stations, newspapers and television stations.

Such reduction gives us courage to even perform much better next time around. We are driven by the phrase that says - one death too many. Our analyses indicate that the following were the main causes of crashes:

* human factor such as fatigue and speed
* vehicle problems, such as in a case where a minibus taxi crashed after a tyre burst.

Over the Easter Weekend, and perhaps even sometime before, we have heard concerns regarding the conditions of our roads, with reports about the increase of potholes on many of our routes. Some media have even suggested that most of our accidents were caused by these potholes and that the province was not doing enough to reduce or completely fix these potholes.

It is important for all of us to remember that road maintenance is the responsibility of all three spheres of government. We have national roads in the province that are maintained by the national government. We also have municipal roads that are maintained by municipalities and provincial roads that are maintained by my Department. As the main player in road maintenance in the province, my Department always strive towards co-ordinating this exercise and ensuring that our roads are in good condition.

Yesterday I had meeting with all road managers from head office and regions to discuss the conditions of our roads especially the perception that there is an increase in the number of potholes in on our roads.

Among the things that came up yesterday were the following:

* There is lack of road maintenance staff with the last in take having taken place when casual labourers were given permanent employment.
* Inadequate funding, with the average annual budget of road maintenance being R300 million as opposed to the real need of about R700 million.
* Inadequate supervision of maintenance teams, with most supervisors in acting positions.

I have therefore decided to do the following:

* Establishment of 21 Rapid Repair Maintenance teams (each per local municipality area) to do road maintenance work. These teams will be resourced with necessary equipment and they should be up and running by mid-June this year.
* The teams will be resourced with the following new innovative light delivery vehicle (LDV) and Fully Equipped Trailer
- user friendly road works equipment
- smaller pickup/light delivery vans
- smaller energetic and mobile teams of personnel
- adequate supply of road repair material
- proper management and communication systems
- staff Discipline and high work rate will character the new teams.

* In the intervening period, management and I will commence an active visit to road repair teams; join in the repair work and gain needed on the job experience over the next two months culminating into the introduction of the newly established Rapid Repair Maintenance Teams.
* This short term measure only focuses on the pothole repair challenge outside the bigger challenge of Planned and Routine Maintenance which records a huge backlog dating many years of neglect.