THE Road Traffic Accident Management Corporation has once again issued a warning to motorists, threatening tough action against drunk drivers over the coming festive season that starts this month.
The temptation could be to dismiss the promise of "tough action" since it is a mantra that is sung each year, but the fatalities on our roads continue to rate among the highest in the world.
Between December 1 2009 and January 11 2010, for example, 1221 people were killed on our roads. It is a tragedy that cries out for all of us to do our bit. To start with, we could all be responsible on the road and obey the law.
We will never know how many drunk drivers take to our roads and get away with it each day throughout the year. Until drivers know there is no chance they can escape the claws of the law if they drive drunk, the carnage on the roads will continue.
The government, police, RTMC and other bodies continue to come up with new threats and innovations each year, but people continue to die.
Lately the police and the courts have begun to show signs that they are serious about curbing the slaughter on the roads.
Last week Sibusiso Langa, who allegedly drove drunk and killed five joggers in Johannesburg, was released on a whopping R80000 bail, his movements curtailed and his driver's licence suspended. He will face murder charges when he appears in court on November 25.
Similarly, musician Molemo Maarohanye, aka Jub Jub, is facing four counts of murder after allegedly killing four school kids in Soweto while driving drunk and high on drugs.
This week RTMC spokesman Ashref Ismail reiterated the promise that each police officer would arrest at least one drunk driver a month.
By now the causes of road deaths in South Africa are common knowledge. Most of them are human error, such as speeding, overtaking at unsafe places, overloading and unroadworthy vehicles. Add to this mix alcohol, fatigue and a bad attitude, and we have a major disaster just waiting to happen.
Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele's recent call for the speed limit to be reduced from 120 to 100kmh is, paradoxically, simplistic. What is needed is consistent (not only over festive periods) campaigning to change the attitudes of road users, complemented by vigilant policing to ensure that hardly anyone over the limit, or who disobeys any law of the road, goes unpunished.
To borrow a cliché, road safety should not be a seasonal thing, it should be a way of life.
Threats are not enough
THE Road Traffic Accident Management Corporation has once again issued a warning to motorists, threatening tough action against drunk drivers over the coming festive season that starts this month.
The temptation could be to dismiss the promise of "tough action" since it is a mantra that is sung each year, but the fatalities on our roads continue to rate among the highest in the world.
Between December 1 2009 and January 11 2010, for example, 1221 people were killed on our roads. It is a tragedy that cries out for all of us to do our bit. To start with, we could all be responsible on the road and obey the law.
We will never know how many drunk drivers take to our roads and get away with it each day throughout the year. Until drivers know there is no chance they can escape the claws of the law if they drive drunk, the carnage on the roads will continue.
The government, police, RTMC and other bodies continue to come up with new threats and innovations each year, but people continue to die.
Lately the police and the courts have begun to show signs that they are serious about curbing the slaughter on the roads.
Last week Sibusiso Langa, who allegedly drove drunk and killed five joggers in Johannesburg, was released on a whopping R80000 bail, his movements curtailed and his driver's licence suspended. He will face murder charges when he appears in court on November 25.
Similarly, musician Molemo Maarohanye, aka Jub Jub, is facing four counts of murder after allegedly killing four school kids in Soweto while driving drunk and high on drugs.
This week RTMC spokesman Ashref Ismail reiterated the promise that each police officer would arrest at least one drunk driver a month.
By now the causes of road deaths in South Africa are common knowledge. Most of them are human error, such as speeding, overtaking at unsafe places, overloading and unroadworthy vehicles. Add to this mix alcohol, fatigue and a bad attitude, and we have a major disaster just waiting to happen.
Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele's recent call for the speed limit to be reduced from 120 to 100kmh is, paradoxically, simplistic. What is needed is consistent (not only over festive periods) campaigning to change the attitudes of road users, complemented by vigilant policing to ensure that hardly anyone over the limit, or who disobeys any law of the road, goes unpunished.
To borrow a cliché, road safety should not be a seasonal thing, it should be a way of life.
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