13 killed in WC accidents
As South African motorists make the long haul back home after the Easter weekend, road authorities have confirmed that 109 people have lost their lives on the roads since Friday. In the Western Cape, 13 people died on the provinces roads, double the amount in 2011. According to Ashraf Ismail from the Road and Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), most incidents took place over night. Ismail said whilst most holidaymakers have returned home, drivers needed to remain vigilant on the road.
“We want to remain cautiously optimistic that fewer accidents occur this year,” he told VOC Breakfast Beat, adding that official figures would only be released later this month. Ismail said they are also relying on the South African Police Service to give statistics for the number of breakdowns over the weekend. A major challenge for road authorities are that many of the traffic campaigns are not authentic and traffic officials are not available to work after hours, as this is the time most accidents occur.
“We don’t need any more laws on our roads, we need more law keepers,” he said. “What we need are people who can actually assist us in these road alerts. If you look at our numbers, we are just under 17 000 traffic officers trying to man a network of vehicles travelling 750 000 km in SA.”
In terms of law enforcement in this country, South Africa has amongst the most comprehensive pieces of legislation regulating road safety in the country. Ismail urged the public to observe road safety tips and to make sure that all drivers including passengers buckle up. He added they would like to see the seat belt rate increase, as studies have shown that buckling up can dramatically reduce the possibility of death in an accident.
“I think that people are aware of how strict we have become on this issue and are slowly starting to obey guidelines. They are starting to feel the heat on enforcement and we will not soften on these regulations,” said Ismail. He said that they will continue to drill this into the mind-set of road users to make them understand and realise their responsibility, playing an equal part in ensuring they comply with these rules. VOC (Aishah Cassiem)
“We want to remain cautiously optimistic that fewer accidents occur this year,” he told VOC Breakfast Beat, adding that official figures would only be released later this month. Ismail said they are also relying on the South African Police Service to give statistics for the number of breakdowns over the weekend. A major challenge for road authorities are that many of the traffic campaigns are not authentic and traffic officials are not available to work after hours, as this is the time most accidents occur.
“We don’t need any more laws on our roads, we need more law keepers,” he said. “What we need are people who can actually assist us in these road alerts. If you look at our numbers, we are just under 17 000 traffic officers trying to man a network of vehicles travelling 750 000 km in SA.”
In terms of law enforcement in this country, South Africa has amongst the most comprehensive pieces of legislation regulating road safety in the country. Ismail urged the public to observe road safety tips and to make sure that all drivers including passengers buckle up. He added they would like to see the seat belt rate increase, as studies have shown that buckling up can dramatically reduce the possibility of death in an accident.
“I think that people are aware of how strict we have become on this issue and are slowly starting to obey guidelines. They are starting to feel the heat on enforcement and we will not soften on these regulations,” said Ismail. He said that they will continue to drill this into the mind-set of road users to make them understand and realise their responsibility, playing an equal part in ensuring they comply with these rules. VOC (Aishah Cassiem)
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