“Daily families are left with a permanent reminder of an accident that changed their lives forever.”
Are we going to change this statement?
Roughly 150 people killed in road crashes during the first 10 days of December 2011. How many will be enough? When are we going to say enough is enough?
Minister Ndebele easily conveys his condolences but that doesn’t lighten the hurt, the devastation and the way forward. He states that for the 28th November 2011 to 4th December 2011 220 motorists were arrested, 150 for drunken driving, 13 for speeding, 13 for reckless and/or negligent driving, 3 for overloading, 27 for public transport permits, 8 with no valid driver’s licence, 4 with false documents and 13 with other offences.
With all this enforcement, which I applaud, we have still lost +/- 64 lives during that time. Ten days into the December holidays and the families of roughly 150 people are having a sad Christmas. No counselling is offered to the families left behind and the devastation the experience is indescribable.
It is clear that Government is struggling to have the impact on road safety they wish to have. To make a positive impact, government will have to partner up with the Organisations who is in the field of road safety and not overlook the importance of their contribution to road safety and road safety awareness.
Government partners up with many Organisations to have an impact on the spreading of HIV/AIDS and it has paid off. They soon realized that they cannot make a difference in isolation. If we look back, these Organisations have played a huge role in the success of stopping HIV/AIDS from killing our people. With the same urgency we should tackle road safety.
Currently, the few Organisations in road safety is run by founder members who lost a loved one in a car crash and dedicated their lives towards making our roads a safer place to be on. These Organisation work effortlessly with little or no funding raising awareness, educating and researching for better ways to make our roads safe.
Each Organisation specializes it a different field of road safety and their input, working together can make a huge impact on behaviour of road users, driving skills and curbing the accident rate. Counselling can also be done, but with a lack of funding, this becomes difficult.
The following Organisation have NPO status and are in desperate need of funding to do their work. In the light of another serious accident this morning, isn’t it time to take road safety serious.
SADD- South Africans Against Drunken Driving – www.sadd.org.za (Alcohol abuse and counselling)
Drive Alive – www.drivealive.co.za (Pedestrian safety, etc)
Road Safety Foundation – www.roadsafetyfoundation.co.za (Awareness, etc)
Drive More Safely – www.drivemoresafely.co.za (driver training, awareness, counselling, etc)
Arrive Alive Website- www.arrivealive.co.za (Road safety awareness website)
JPSA – www.jp-sa.org (Unlawful actions of traffic law enforcement)
These Organisations cover vast areas of road safety that could make an important difference in the carnage on our roads if more money was available.
Now is the time for government to take a stand, join forces with these Organisations, assist with funding and stop spending R100million on youth parties when the highest fatality rate is between the ages of 18 and 27 years, thousands on conferences where nothing comes from and together start to make a difference in road safety.
This is my request to government:
Please engage with us and let us assist in the prevention of this carnage on our roads. There is no cure, so let us urgently look at prevention.
Together we can make a difference!
“Daily families are left with a permanent reminder of an accident that changed their lives forever”
Are we going to change this statement?
Alida Jones
Founder /CEO
Drive More Safely NPO
Also view:
For more on your commitment to Road Safety:
For Live Traffic on your Route view the TomTom Route Planner
Also view: