TRANSPORT Minister Sbu Ndebele yesterday encouraged passengers to stand up and challenge reckless drivers.
Ndebele was speaking in Springs, Ekurhuleni yesterday at the launch of the Easter Road Safety Campaign.
Ndebele urged the crowd to speak up when they are in a car, taxi or bus when the driver drove recklessly. He warned bus and taxi drivers to take heed when they were cautioned about reckless driving.
Ndebele said that was how road accidents could be controlled.
"Easter covers a concentrated five-day high traffic volume period, with many motorists travelling the length and breadth of the country for religious and holiday purposes.
"During Easter and the December holidays each year, hundreds of people perish. Lives are cut short. The nation is robbed of immensetalent," he said.
His warning comes in the wake of a Cape Town taxi driver who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing 10 children when he ignored signals and attempted to drive past a railway crossing. Last Thursday a minibus taxi driver transporting 14 schoolchildren collided with a cargo train in Johannesburg.
Ndebele recalled the story when a son of former president Nelson Mandela was killed in a car accident, and when the Mandelas mourned the loss of a grandchild killed in a car accident after the 2010 Soccer World Cup opening ceremony.
Ndebele himself has had the experience of burying a son who was killed in an accident. His son Nhlakanipho Ndebele died in April 1994.
"It's the most traumatic thing that can happen to you," the minister said. "There are these millions who go through this experience every day. This is what we must fight against," he said.
Mpumalanga MEC of safety, security and liaison Vusi Shongwe spoke on behalf of other MECs in the country by pledging their unwavering support for the minister and the campaign.
"If the minister reduces the speed limit from 120km/h to 100km/h, we will support him," Shongwe said.
In this year's campaign, the Department of Transport will focus on road fatigue, driver fitness, drinking and driving, the use of seat belts and pedestrian safety.
Between this month and May, the focus will be on road traffic violations, vehicle and driver fitness, public transport and trucks.
Heavy traffic volumes during Easter are expected on roads such as the N1 to Limpopo, especially the road to Moria City and Beitbridge, the N3 to Durban and the N1 to Free State, and also in Western Cape and Eastern Cape as well as the N4 to Mpumalanga, Swaziland and Mozambique.
All these roads will be heavily policed. Ndebele also said this year all taxis and buses would have first aid kits. The departments of transport and of education would work together to run first aid courses in all schools so that the new crop of drivers would be equipped to perform basic first aid.
Challenge reckless drivers, Ndebele urges passengers
TRANSPORT Minister Sbu Ndebele yesterday encouraged passengers to stand up and challenge reckless drivers.
Ndebele was speaking in Springs, Ekurhuleni yesterday at the launch of the Easter Road Safety Campaign.
Ndebele urged the crowd to speak up when they are in a car, taxi or bus when the driver drove recklessly. He warned bus and taxi drivers to take heed when they were cautioned about reckless driving.
Ndebele said that was how road accidents could be controlled.
"Easter covers a concentrated five-day high traffic volume period, with many motorists travelling the length and breadth of the country for religious and holiday purposes.
"During Easter and the December holidays each year, hundreds of people perish. Lives are cut short. The nation is robbed of immensetalent," he said.
His warning comes in the wake of a Cape Town taxi driver who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing 10 children when he ignored signals and attempted to drive past a railway crossing. Last Thursday a minibus taxi driver transporting 14 schoolchildren collided with a cargo train in Johannesburg.
Ndebele recalled the story when a son of former president Nelson Mandela was killed in a car accident, and when the Mandelas mourned the loss of a grandchild killed in a car accident after the 2010 Soccer World Cup opening ceremony.
Ndebele himself has had the experience of burying a son who was killed in an accident. His son Nhlakanipho Ndebele died in April 1994.
"It's the most traumatic thing that can happen to you," the minister said. "There are these millions who go through this experience every day. This is what we must fight against," he said.
Mpumalanga MEC of safety, security and liaison Vusi Shongwe spoke on behalf of other MECs in the country by pledging their unwavering support for the minister and the campaign.
"If the minister reduces the speed limit from 120km/h to 100km/h, we will support him," Shongwe said.
In this year's campaign, the Department of Transport will focus on road fatigue, driver fitness, drinking and driving, the use of seat belts and pedestrian safety.
Between this month and May, the focus will be on road traffic violations, vehicle and driver fitness, public transport and trucks.
Heavy traffic volumes during Easter are expected on roads such as the N1 to Limpopo, especially the road to Moria City and Beitbridge, the N3 to Durban and the N1 to Free State, and also in Western Cape and Eastern Cape as well as the N4 to Mpumalanga, Swaziland and Mozambique.
All these roads will be heavily policed. Ndebele also said this year all taxis and buses would have first aid kits. The departments of transport and of education would work together to run first aid courses in all schools so that the new crop of drivers would be equipped to perform basic first aid.
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