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Our opinion
Text: Jannie Herbst
Source: This article is from the November 2011 issue of Leisure Wheels.
What SA really needs is a national road safety plan
Minister of Transport S’bu Ndebele has been a busy chap just recently.
Ndebele may not be the brightest bulb in the government chandelier, but he has given South African motorists plenty of food for thought.
The minister first made headlines when he announced he would ask Parliament to lower the speed limit to 100 km/h. He reckons lowering the speed limit would reduce the carnage on our roads, where between 7 000 and 10 000 people are killed annually. Predictably, the minister’s proposal was met with howls of outrage from most circles.
Ndebele has followed up by proposing that the legal alcohol limit be reduced to zero. The current limit is 0,05g/100ml and 0,02g/100ml for professional drivers such as bus, taxi and freight operators.
The minister has also proposed the introduction of graded licences whereby first-time drivers are issued with provisional licences valid for two or three years. The licence could be suspended for major traffic violations, and the right to renew or upgrade a licence could be denied.
In terms of a zero alcohol limit and graded licences, Ndebele is on fairly solid ground, and Leisure Wheels would not have too many qualms on those scores. We would also like to see legislation – as is the case in New Zealand – stipulating that vehicles more than five years old go through a roadworthy test every six months.
It is on the matter of a reduction in the speed limit to save lives that Ndebele is on shaky ground. You can kill yourself just as easily at 100km/h as you can at 120km/h, and Ndebele’s proposal would appear to be a knee-jerk reaction to the recent spate of bus and taxi accidents highlighted by the Knysna bus tragedy.
In calling for a reduction in the speed limit, the minister refers to conditions in countries like Australia, but we tend to agree with the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) that this clouds the issue. “Our road safety problems and transport issues are unique to us,” the union said in a statement scoffing at Ndebele’s proposal. “A localised solution is required – one that addresses our conditions, our work habits and our transport needs.” Spot on.
As long as South Africa’s road safety programme is based on revenue collecting we are doomed to seeing no reduction in the road carnage.
The taxi and bus transport industries provide two clues to issues that should be obvious to Ndebele. First and foremost is visible policing. The impunity with which taxi drivers flout traffic laws is scandalous. Further, the majority of recent bus accidents have been the result of defective vehicles.
Motor vehicles are like firearms – they are lethal weapons. But firearms don’t kill people on their own – they need someone to pull the trigger, and motor vehicles are only as dangerous as the people who drive them.
Alcohol, drugs and fatigue exacerbate the road safety problem. So do defective vehicles, and the number of death traps on wheels is distressing.
Ongoing visible and vigorous policing by well paid and well trained law enforcement officers, as opposed to revenue collection through speeding fines and periodic road blocks which net a few offenders, is the only solution. Six-monthly roadworthy checks would get the death traps off our roads.
There is also a need to clamp down on the issue of illegal licences, and to come down heavily on corruption and bribery among traffic officers.
It is estimated that changing speed limit signs from 120 to 100 would cost around R100 million. A lot of speed trapping would be needed to cover that lot, but there are cheaper methods of enforcing road safety.
In the US, dummy cops, affectionately known as Latex Larry, in marked traffic cars placed at strategic points have been highly successful. Plastic cops on the roadside, some of them even waving lit-up batons, effectively slow down traffic in Japan.
Signs that electronically read the speed of oncoming cars and flash “too fast” or “slow down” have also been effective in many first world countries.
The problem in South Africa, of course, is that there is no national road safety or traffic law enforcement plan in place, and provincial traffic departments have been left to do their own thing. The result is our current road safety shambles.
Ndebele and his department would be doing something tangible for road safety if they sat down and came up with a national plan that concentrated on visible and effective policing instead of writing out speeding tickets. Efficient public transport systems would also be a help.
A final thought. A South African version of Latex Larry would at least be honest!
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