VW Conference Centre, Midrand, 18 October 2001
"Road access management is a test of our minds and our collective vision: of a safe, integrated, efficient road network that brings empowered communities into the mainstream of economic & social life."
Colleague Minister Mosunkutu
Chairperson, Mr Sishuba
Distinguished participants and guests
Friends
Thank you for inviting me to open your Symposium today.
As you know, safety in all our transport systems is an issue close to my heart. I define it as a national goal, closely related to the broader national goals of law compliance, economic development and social inclusion. In order to achieve the dramatic safety improvements we are looking for in the land transport sector over the next five to ten years, our enforcement, regulation and communication actions must be supported on the ground by well-coordinated traffic management systems and a well planned and managed road environment.
A lot of work lies before us. The worldwide forecast is that the number of vehicles in developed countries will increase from 544 million in 2000 to 618 million in 2015 (an increase of more than 14%) . In South Africa we already have a vehicle population that stands at about 6,5 million registered vehicles. The continued rapid growth in vehicle population and traffic volumes on the country's road network is putting increasing pressure on operational conditions and the level of service provided to road users. At the same time it is becoming clear that congestion in our major cities is increasing to a degree that should be of serious concern to all of us.
Though we are not yet at the crisis point that many of the world's major cities have reached, we need to think imaginatively and creatively about how we can avoid going blindly towards the same destination.
We do not have to accept the increasing urban congestion, environmental pollution and road user frustration that unimaginative planners and irresponsible developers like to call the inevitable price we pay for growth and development.
We have to test our minds and test our vision. We have to ask the fundamental questions about the role of the private car, and about the balance we should be seeking to achieve between private and public transport, road and rail, clean and dirty energy sources. We should be looking for modal mixes that serve our commuters and our economy with maximum efficiency, but do so sustainably, and on a human scale.
To work to a human scale requires something very simple but important, something that has all too often escaped metropolitan planners. It requires the active participation of those who have all too often been arrogantly "planned for" and cynically marginalised. We in South Africa, with our brutal history of engineered spatial distortion, should never forget this.
Sustainability is about protecting the environment and developing rational systems, but it is above all about people - about their involvement in shaping and owning the solutions we come up with. If we ignore the basic needs of those who live in and use our cities and road network today - and if they experience only a continuing degradation in their quality of life - whatever solutions we put in place will return to haunt us tomorrow.
I am making these points up front, because I am well aware that our transportation system is very complex, with many different dimensions, requiring the skills of many disciplines and technologies to ensure that the maximum benefit is achieved for all. We must therefore take great care not to allow technical considerations to crowd out the goal of maximum benefit for all.
Chairperson, the ideal function of the road network is to provide every piece of land and every development with an access route that can be safely and efficiently used by an appropriate mix of transport modes. Modern road management methods allow flow capacity to be increased, and Road Access Management provides a methodology that can play a significant role in ensuring that the appropriate traffic volumes and mixes of service are in fact achieved across the entire network.
I am therefore very glad to see that this important Symposium has succeeded in bringing together a wide range of professionals to debate the issues and start formulating the Guidelines and Regulations that we as a country will be relying on over the coming years. I welcome all of you, whether you are development economists, developers, urban design specialists, transport economists, transportation and land use planners or roads engineers.
I know that you have already done a great deal of work towards formulating a strategic vision, and that we have now reached the point where the challenge is to ensure that the necessary legislation and institutional mechanisms are in place to give practical form to the vision of a transport system that is safer, more cost-efficient and better able to manage and channel traffic flows.
As I suggested earlier, it is very important that we do not focus all our planning around the private passenger vehicle. Our policy as government clearly states that first priority must be given to public transport and to the efficient movement of freight by road and rail. Public passenger transport should be in a position to provide for around 80% of the mobility needs of our people, while the development of a responsible, well-regulated road and rail freight sector will play a critical role in stimulating our own economic development and linking south Africa's ports and industrial centres to our SADC neighbours and the wider sub-Saharan region.
The development of National Guidelines and Regulations for Road Access Management is part of a national initiative that has been under way for some time now. The Department of Transport began by sponsoring research into the most appropriate spacing between intersections and accesses on arterial roads as early as 1993-1994. This research led to the development of Road Access Management Policies and Guidelines for a number of provinces, metropolitan areas and local municipalities.
These initiatives were not, however, fully co-ordinated and integrated. Therefore, as most of you probably know, the South African Institute of Civil Engineers Transportation Division - in association with the South African Section of the United States Institute of Transportation Engineers - convened a Symposium on Road Access Management on 19th February 1999. The Symposium documented the philosophy and principles of RAM and highlighted the importance of a formal system to manage access to the road network.
It also provided a forum to share the experience of practitioners and authorities throughout South Africa, and to obtain the input of a variety of disciplines and stakeholders such as town planners, urban designers, architects, developers and the legal profession.
The Symposium ultimately gave rise to a COTO-initiated project to develop formal National Guidelines and Regulations for Road Access Management in South Africa. A workshop was held in Ekurhuleni to obtain the input of municipalities and provincial government officials, and a follow-up workshop to debate the recommendations of the project team took place at the end of August 2001.
The project team has also regularly interacted with its counterparts in the United States Federal Highways Administration to ensure that the guidelines developed for South Africa are both appropriate to our particular needs and in line with international best practice. I want to commend the role played by Gauteng Province and the Cape Metropolitan Council in leading the process and practically demonstrating the effectiveness of co-operative governance. I believe that Road Access Management, fully integrated into a culture of cooperative governance and community involvement, will become a very important lever in protecting the long term operational integrity of the road network and ensuring that it increasingly serves our communities, supports the economy and facilitates growth and development.
The Draft Guidelines are before you here today. Provision has been made for discussions and you are urged to participate in the deliberations and provide your input to this important initiative.
Let me end by once again congratulating the Transportation Division of the South African Institute of Civil Engineers for arranging this Symposium. I wish you all a successful and productive day and I trust that the National Guidelines for Road Access Management in South Africa will be finalised in the very near future.
I thank you.