DEAR Editor;
THE Democratic Alliance in KZN is deeply concerned by the release of the country’s road-related death toll for the 2018/19 festive season, which confirms that the province recorded the highest number of people killed.
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The announcement by National Transport Minister late yesterday, Blade Nzimande, late yesterday confirms the tragic deaths of 328 people killed in 267 crashes in KwaZulu-Natal. The news comes amid an overall increase in fatalities on South Africa’s roads during the festive season, with 1 612 people succumbing to their injuries. The department has claimed that human error accounted for 90 percent of contributory factors.
It is clear that the ANC’s failed policies and failed policing continue to allow far too many bad drivers on our roads and the responsibility for the deaths of so many innocent people must be placed squarely at their door.
It is also evident that KZN Department of Transport’s (DoT) much-trumpeted measures to reduce road fatalities are not yielding the desired outcomes, with the province high up on the country’s holiday crash casualty list year after year.
If there is to be any hope of changing this then MEC Mxolisi Kaunda and his department need to up their game.
While ongoing proper law-enforcement is key to reducing our high road fatality rate, there is also a dire need for accurate information relating to the three main causes of death – human, vehicle and road factors – an area where the provincial department is currently found wanting. The DA recommends working with the SAPS, traffic police and the health department to identify the main causes of crashes in each category. This will mean thorough research and regular road safety audits to validate and determine the efficacy of measures already in place.
We also recommend a renewed focus on road safety awareness programmes, particularly within schools where this should form part of the curriculum. Such programmes would go a long way in reducing pedestrian deaths, especially when it comes to rural communities located alongside busy roadways.
The mandate of the province’s transport MEC and his department is to provide all road users with a safe travelling environment. Currently this is not the case. This must be rectified.
Rafeek Shah, MPL
DA KZN Spokesman on Transport
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