Infrastructure, awareness key to curbing fatalities on national roads

Road safety should be every citizen's responsibility, and education and awareness campaigns play an important role in road safety programmes, says Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi.

Speaking at a panel discussion organised in partnership with Power FM and other transport entities, Minister Maswanganyi says statistics on the death toll on our roads during the most recent holiday season do not bode well for the country. "Because of that, we have taken a decision that road safety awareness programmes should not be seasonal," he says.

The Minister adds that as a participant of the United National Decade of Action 2011 - 2020, South Africa has endorsed the global undertaking to save up to five million lives and contribute to the prevention of up to 50 million serious injuries by 2020.

Randall Cable, the Engineering Manager for Operations at the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL), says countries that invest more in their road infrastructure have reduced fatalities on their national roads.

"South Africa has a good road infrastructure, and through the National Road Safety Strategy, which is yet to be approved by Cabinet, the country will be able to pull its resources together in curbing carnage on its national roads.

"As SANRAL, through our mandate of maintaining and managing the national road network, we have demonstrated that infrastructure reduces the risk of serious injury when an accident happens on our highways," says Cable.

Touching on pedestrian safety, Cable says pedestrian infrastructure such as sidewalks can make a serious case of reducing deaths on freeways, which make up to 40% of deaths on the road.

SANRAL has also introduced road safety audits, making it mandatory for road authorities to be conscious about road safety on national roads.

The National Road Safety Strategy embodies the principles of the Safe Systems' approach and giving effect to the five pillars of the global plan, which are a guiding framework to improve road safety.

In accordance with the Decade of Action, these pillars remain consistent in the National Road Safety Strategy, namely, road safety management, safer roads and mobility, safer vehicles, safer road users and post-crash response.