Pretoria – The number of pedestrians killed on South African roads is increasing each year, Transport Minister Ben Martins said on Saturday, calling on people to adhere to the rules of the road.
“We refer to incidents and fatalities that can be avoided, when the Deputy Minister and I have gone throughout the country to speak about the importance of us as parents taking up our responsibility to speak the message of road safety we hope to address the problem,” Martins said.
He was speaking at the launch of the UN Global Road Safety Week in Soweto. The Second United Nations Global Road Safety Week to be held from 6-12 May 2013 is dedicated to pedestrian safety.
Requested by the United Nations General Assembly, the week will draw attention to the urgent need to better protect pedestrians worldwide and contribute to achieving the goal of the Decade of Action for Road Safety to save five million lives.
According to the UN, 270 000 pedestrians are involved in accidents and lose their lives on the roads each year.
Earlier in the day, Martins was joined by several government officials and community members for a 3km walk in Soweto aimed at promoting pedestrian safety.
Martins singled out drunk driving as contributing to the growing number of pedestrian killings.
As the walk was in progress, a major accident involving two vehicles occurred along the Old Potchefstroom Road near the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. The driver of one of the vehicles was found to be drunk and was arrested on the spot. A child who was in one of the vehicles, appearing very confused, came out of the car ran out into the nearby houses and emergency officials had to look for him.
“When we say it is in the best interest of South Africans not to drink and drive we refer to incidents and fatalities and accidents of the nature you saw this morning and everyone was there to witness it,” said Martins.
“We will throughout the week speak a lot about community safety and safety on the road and we will be sending out clear messages to pedestrians out there to say let us be safe because unlike motorists pedestrians are more vulnerable.”
According to the Road Traffic Management Cooperation, up to 42 percent of people who die on road accident annually are pedestrians.
“During Easter this grows to 60 percent and this creates problems for us. We need to focus on pedestrians because they are the most vulnerable road users,” RTMC acting CEO Collins Letsoale told SAnews.
The World Health Organisation reports that pedestrian casualties account for 22 percent of the total 1.24 million road traffic deaths. More than 5 000 pedestrians are killed on the world's roads each week.
“What is most concerning to us is that there seems to be a growing element of not adhering to road rules, people jaywalk and general people walk on our freeways as well. What we are seeing is a lot of drunk people walking on our roads and they are not visible to motorists.
“We are making a clarion call to everybody to make sure they exercise responsibility on the road and make sure that they adhere to the rules of the road and walk safely.” – SAnew.gov.za
