To: All Media…

Date: 23 September 2019
For: Immediate Use

MINISTER MBALULA LAMENTS LONG WEEKEND ROAD FATALITIES

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has lamented the recent spate of fatalities on South Africa’s roads.

It comes in the wake of a number of crashes, each with multiple fatalities, in the Western Cape, Free State, Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, from Thursday 19 September 2019 to date.

The Minister has called on everyone to play their part: “We must all appreciate that safety on our roads is a collective responsibility that we must all shoulder. Each one of us must be able to define their individual contribution to making our roads safer for our children as well as future generations. This starts with changing behavior that places the lives of other road users at risk”.

The Department of Transport has taken tangible steps towards curbing the carnage. “The rollout of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) is not just about a more efficient way of adjudicating road traffic offences, but also about creating effective incentives to change road user behaviour”, says Minister Mbalula.

The Minister added that efforts to ensure that Traffic policing becomes a 24-hour, 7-day activity are well underway. “We are engaging with all traffic authorities in the country and traffic officers through relevant channels to ensure that the implementation of this intervention does not negatively affect conditions of service of our officers”, said the Minister.

In the coming weeks the Transport Minister will be rolling out a campaign that will capture the imagination of the nation and aggressively drive road safety messages through a collaborative effort with organs of civil society. A social compact will underpin the Ministry’s agenda of accelerated service delivery and define the role of civil society in ensuring safety on our roads.

Ends –

ISSUED BY:
Ministry of Transport

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ayanda Allie Paine 074 823 7979

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