Transport Minister must explain ineffective road safety campaigns

Issued by Manny de Freitas MP – DA Shadow Minister of Transport
25 Sep 2017 in News

Reports that more than 20 people have died on our roads over this long weekend so far and that dozens more have been injured are deeply concerning.

The fact is that the Minister of Transport, Joe Maswanganyi, has utterly failed to explain, why far too many people die on our roads, despite millions being spent on numerous road safety campaigns.

Clearly, these campaigns are not working.

The DA will again write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Transport, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi, to request that she urgently summon Minister Maswanganyi to explain in detail exactly what campaigns were set up to try curb road deaths, how much these campaigns cost and further, why they have been so terribly unsuccessful.

Every year, the Department of Transport through the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), continue to use the same tired approach to try to bring down the death toll on our roads.  This approach is literally the very definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome.

The RTMC has even admitted to the portfolio committee that the biggest issues contributing to deaths on our roads are moving violations, faulty brakes and smooth tyres yet their campaign addresses absolutely none of this.

In order to save lives on our roads, South Africans must be empowered with information on road safety by effective campaigns. This is the only way we can hope to bring down the unacceptably high number of people lost on our roads.