Why not Road Safety Everyday?

Typical Mini Bus Taxi

According to the national department of Transport, October was "Transport Month". What did this mean, well for me personally it simply meant that I saw more police and traffic cops at almost every intersection at all hours of the day and somehow I happened to feel safer on the roads during the month of October. For many others, it could have meant being stopped at one of the numerous road blocks and traffic checks, not to mention all the speed trappings in all manner of unusual spots, where you don't normally see traffic policing.

It was during these many traffic checks that many vehicles were impounded and taken off the roads for failing roadworthy tests. It was also during the month of October that the Road Traffic Management Corporation carried out road worthiness spot checks at depots of arguably South Africa's biggest privately owned public transport company, PUTCO. These checks by the RTMC led to at least 75 Putco buses being scrapped after being certified dangerous to carry passengers. The Department of Transport and the TRMC must be congratulated for their efforts during the month of October. However, as I have said before, imagine how road carnage could be reduced if this same effort was maintained throughout the year, especially as this relates to the taxis on the South African roads.

There are more than 500,000 taxis on SA roads and I would bet my top dollar, that most of these taxis are not roadworthy at all, hence government's own recapitalization project. What this means, is that the Ministry of Transport can not afford to take its eye off road safety, especially as this relates to minibus taxis. The re-capilization project is obviously not happening fast enough as witnessed by the number of old minibus taxis still on our roads. Minibus taxis which are road worthy are sadly, in a minority. Minister Ndebele and his department need to dedicate everyday to road safety. Yes, I'm aware that it would take a lot of resources to maintain the level of safety enforcement that we witnessed in the month of October, however this would be an effort worth investing in, for the love of our country. 

Our Politicians must demonstrate some will.

Gaddafi is gone, long live Libya!

Reports are emerging that the late Libyan leader, Muamar Gaddafi had invested close to US$200 Billion across different industries around the world. Ever since he came into power in 1969, Gaddafi ruled Libya as if it was his personal empire and all the monies he took out of the country for investment purposes were invested, not on behalf of the state but, for his personal gain. Viewed from this perspective, by the time he died, Gaddafi was (odd as this may sound) a multi-billionaire.

The billions Gaddafi took out of his country were made from the sale of crude oil and petroleum related products. Libya has the 10th largest oil reserves in the world, with proven reserves in excess of 46 billion barrels. Before the 2011 revolution, aimed at overthrowing Gaddafi, the country was also among the leading producers and exporters of crude oil. While Libya has one of the highest GDP's per capita in the world (US$14,000), many of the country's 6.4 million population remains poor and destitute.

In the age of the Internet, Facebook and Mobile Telephony, it is becoming so much easier for citizens of the oppressed nations to expose the injustices of dictators to a sympathetic foreign audience and as such more and more dictators are coming under serve pressure to change their ways or leave power completely. No doubt Gaddafi's overthrow was inspired by what happened in Egypt and Tunisia. It appears that it is only a matter of time until similar changes take place in Syria. 

In my opinion, over the next few years, and driven largely by social networking platforms, citizens uprisings will spread beyond the middle east to many other countries around the world where dictators are in power. To that extent, keep an eye on Venezuela, Cuba, Zimbabwe and indeed North Korea.

October is Transport Month

According to the national Department of Transport, lead by Minister S'bu Ndebele, the month of October in South Africa is "Transport Month". The intention is two fold, first to focus attention on road safety, and to this end, we have seen many road blocks and speed trapping on Joburg roads. Indeed if road blocks and more intensive speed trapping are supposed to lead to improved road safety, one hopes that these efforts would extend beyond the month of October and become standard practice by both the SA Police Services and the relevant traffic police departments. 

Secondly, to focus attention on the need to improve the general conditions of existing roads, in an effort to improve safety. It is especially during the rainy season that South African roads suffer from potholes, possibly a result of poor workmanship in the building of the roads, but more likely a result of extremely high traffic volumes on our roads. The Ministry has emphasized that it would use the most labour-intensive methods to rebuild the roads in order to ease the high unemployment emphasized.

Libya is said to have the highest number of road deaths in the world at 39 deaths for every 100,000 members of the population, per anum. With the current civil war taking place in the country, the road deaths will certainly be on the increase. South Africa's own statistics are not that much better, with 33 road deaths for every 100,000 members of the population, per anum. Sweden has the lowest road deaths in the world at just over 2 deaths out of 100,000 members of the population per anum.

In order to drastically reduce SA's road fatalities, it is my opinion that Minister Ndebele ought to dedicate the entire year to road safety.