OPINION: Road carnage – Prompt action needed to save lives

It is a terrible reality that KwaZulu-Natal has become synonymous with road carnage, with hardly a week going by without yet another horrific crash and the loss of multiple lives. In most cases, these incidents involve heavy vehicles or public transport vehicles.

The question is – what is KZN’s Department of Transport doing to mitigate this? Sadly, it appears that the answer is ‘not much’. In most cases, immediate intervention is not taken by authorities while trucks continue to use roads unsuitable for heavy vehicles and reckless driving without legal consequence has become the norm.

It is no longer enough for MEC, Sipho Hlomuka and his Department to extend condolences to bereaved families. Nor is it enough to simply condemn those who place other road users lives at risk. The time has come for a far more proactive approach.

With the festive season just weeks away, KZN’s Department of Transport (DoT) must gear up to save lives. Given the lack of urgency in this regard, the DA has developed a 10-point road safety plan.

This includes an increase in RTI officers around-the-clock, further restrictions on trucks utilising fast lanes, an electronic system where citizens can report ‘real time’ road offenders, heavy fines for operators of unroadworthy trucks and taxis, increased monitoring and enforcement of weight restrictions on certain roads, strict monitoring of overloading passengers and goods and a 100km maximum speed limit when transporting children.

We call on the MEC and his Department to swiftly acknowledge our proposals and look to implementing them. This is no time for the MEC and his Department to be sleeping on the job, prompt action is needed now. The lives of KZN’s people can no longer be placed at risk every time they leave home.

SHARON HOOSEN, MPL
DA KZN Spokesperson on Transport

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