Sanral ready for the festive season

Issued by SANRAL
Pretoria, Nov 27, 2017

If you're ready for the festive season, so is Sanral. The roads agency will provide a safe environment, but you, the motorist and truck driver, also have a contribution to make.

The December holidays bring more vehicles on to the roads going to more places - and this increases the risk inherent in driving.

Road safety is a major challenge during this period, says Skhumbuzo Macozoma, CEO of the South African National Road Agency (Sanral). Although there is a major drive from many institutions around road safety, accident statistics remain unacceptably high.

According to the 2016/2017 annual report by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), almost 80% of road crashes in South Africa occur as a result of human factors, such as speeding and reckless behaviour.

Roads and environmental factors account for 17%, the rest is due to vehicle factors, such as unroadworthy vehicles.

"An important part of what Sanral does, is to provide safe roads, safe for vehicles and pedestrians. This festive season it will redouble its efforts to promote road safety.

"We have been travelling on our roads to assess their condition, and we visited several construction zones to determine the extent of roadworks and their impact on traffic. We are happy to say our roads are ready to accommodate the holiday traffic," says Macozoma.

Motorists can look forward to a safe journey on the national network, with its high-quality roads, friendly toll plazas with minor delays, especially for tag holders, and 24-hour emergency and law enforcement from supporting partners in the provinces as part of the Roads Incidents Management Systems (RIMS) programme.

Motorists can also visit the Sanral Web site www.nra.co.za for help in planning their journeys.

Sanral has made available a series of videos to help motorists plan on their journeys - what route to use, what to expect on the road, the estimated expenditure for tolls and rest spots on the route.

You can download these five videos using this link: https://we.tl/eIPxFEFvhv

Beyond assessing the state of the roads, Sanral will be rolling out the WHOA! campaign to reinforce the message of responsible road-user behaviour to reduce deaths and accidents on the roads.

Macozoma says: "Please heed the calls to stay safe on the roads. Do things differently this festive season. Be responsible for your life and for that of fellow road-users. Don't drink and drive. Don't text and drive. Don't text and walk.