Lawlessness of Gauteng drivers a major concern in Easter road deaths

3 April 2018

The Easter weekend road accident and arrest statistics paints a picture of motorists who are showing disdain for traffic laws.

During the past Easter weekend over 250 drunk drivers were arrested according to the Department of Community Safety. They also stated that 70% of Gauteng road accidents involved pedestrians, highlighted by the Tshwane Metro Police’s arrest of at least 40 pedestrians.

According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) the main transgressions fined over the long weekend were speeding, driving unlicensed vehicles and for motorists driving without licenses.

These staggering number of arrests and fines together with the death and injury toll from road accidents, highlights the fact that the Gauteng Provincial Government’s current road safety strategy is clearly not working.

Road safety cannot rely on marketing exercises and policing alone. Although the policing actions must be commended, law enforcement agencies fight a losing battle in the absence of crucial road safety strategy elements.

Road safety starts with proper safety education in schools, followed by proper driver training, appropriate driver license testing system, effective law enforcement and swift prosecution and driver rehabilitation.

It is well documented that all these elements do not function as they should within a coherent road safety strategy for Gauteng.

I have on many occasions called on the MEC to take our inputs seriously so that we can stop the carnage on our roads, to no avail. We can no longer afford the impact on our economy that road deaths and injuries cause.

Unless the Gauteng government does not take the implementation of a proper road safety strategy seriously, our roads will never be safe

Issued by Fred Nel, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Roads and Transport, 3 April 2018