Pretoria – Traffic officials are planning to roll-out a road safety intervention that is aimed at reducing carnage on the roads.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) also said as part of the intervention, public transport found to be defective, or not roadworthy, will be impounded and owners will be required to re-test their cars and re-apply for a roadworthy certificate.
This comes after a week that Gilberto Martins, the CEO of the RTMC, described as “one of the most disastrous weeks in road traffic management in South Africa” where more than 60 people lost their lives, while over 100 were injured in five major fatal crashes involving public transport vehicles.
This includes the fatal crash in Pinetown in KwaZulu-Natal, where a heavy duty truck, which was driven by a 23 year-old driver, crashed into passenger vehicles at an intersection, leaving 23 people dead.
Talking to journalists in Pretoria on Wednesday, Martins said “enough is enough”, and said the increasing road carnage has prompted him to take a more urgent approach.
“Public transport vehicles [that are not roadworthy] will be impounded, re-tested and a new licence will be issued. No taxis will be back on the road until a new licence has been issued,” Martins said.
In 2012 alone, 13 795 people lost their lives on the road.
Unveiling the intervention, called the Intelligent Traffic Enforcement Management (I.T.E.M), Martins said previous “seasonal” interventions were no longer effective.
He said the plan would be a continuous 365-day intervention that will see RTMC gathering statistics from provincial officials, hotspots being identified to be given special attention.
Martins also said as part of the implementation of the intervention, traffic officials would also conduct a 20-point roadside inspection check on all public transport vehicles. A hotline for “unsafe road usage” will be set up while road safety material will be rolled out at checkpoints.
Partnerships will be forged with enforcement agencies from all three spheres of government to implement the intervention, while further partnerships with the motoring industry, media and members of the public will be pursued to enhance vehicle safety checks.
“It must be agreed that this will be a national roll-out of public transport enforcement and the approach must be professional but vigorous, extensive and decisive along identified hazardous locations.
“The campaign must be far-reaching and be impactful with focused operations that are measurable.
“The drive must be a hard hitting zero tolerance, no-nonsense approach with an underlined massage that ‘enough is enough’,” he said.
The intervention will be rolled-out between October 2013 and April 2014. – SAnews.gov.za
