Efforts to create awareness of road safety acknowledged by government

The Minster of Transport, Jeff Radebe recently addressed the media on a decline in road deaths over Easter weekend. In his addressed he revealed that fatalities from road accidents declined from 250 in 2007 to 195 in 2008. This was despite an increase of registered motor vehicles on our roads.

We also need to consider and acknowledge role players who contributed to the decline in road deaths. Minister Radebe remarked as follows:

“I need to extend my appreciation to all law enforcement agencies for the commitment and dedication that they have shown during the Easter period. Further, to applaud all those motorists who heeded our call on road safety messages. Of course, the media, both printed and electronic for playing a pivotal role in disseminating road safety information, which contributed to the success that we have attained. It is clear that if all role players come together we will indeed achieve our desired objective namely, reduction of fatalities on our roads.”

It is indeed inspiring that the efforts to create awareness of road safety are acknowledged by the Minister of Transport. There are many road safety related websites, bloggers, journalists who have committed themselves to assist Transport authorities in creating awareness of road safety. These individuals and NGO’s believe in the bigger picture, that there are different spheres of expertise in different sectors of society and that we all need to do our utmost to protect the lives of all road users across South Africa.

On behalf of the Arrive Alive road safety website, the road safety blog and the ArriveAlive.co.za group on Facebook I would like to confirm the commitment to continue with the efforts to create an information platform for road safety information to the benefit of all road users!!

How many accidents do we deserve?

South Africans often complain and ridicule traffic authorities for the high death toll on our roads. We strategise and implement awareness and enforcement strategies and despite small short term victories still face overturned vehicles and blood on our roads.

Having been involved with efforts to create awareness of road safety for the past 5 years I am often approached by friends questioning our South African road safety efforts. We can only admit that there are far too many deaths and that much more needs to be done to improve safety on our roads.

Accident statistics in South Africa reveal that every day we lose approximately 36 lives and numerous others are seriously injured. Even though these numbers are alarming – we need to go on our knees each day and be thankful that these numbers are not higher! I am a firm believer that we get what we deserve – and if we “live by the sword, we die by the sword”.

Statistics that are more alarming are the number of daily unlicensed drivers, drunk drivers, non roadworthy vehicles and speedsters! If we monitor these statistics closely we will find that in KZN alone there were 2209 unlicensed drivers stopped at road blocks during the month of December 2007. Earlier today colleagues of mine mocked another colleague by discussing whether anyone has ever spotted him in his vehicle without his cellular phone to his ear…!

Our blatant disregard for the Rules of the Road is the most important missing link in road safety. If this is not addressed we will continue discussing road deaths as a health hazard, we will continue to complain about our fellow road users and our economy will suffer the consequences… [ and we will console those who lose their beloved family members and friends in accidents!]

We can only hope that lawlessness on the roads will decrease and that traffic enforcement will remove the unruly element from our roads. This will require a focus on effective traffic enforcement outside of the usual speed enforcement through road blocks, breathalyzers etc. We will also need the commitment of ordinary road users to obey the Rules of the Road, to report bad drivers and corrupt officials….only then will we deserve safer roads!!

2 Killed As Dump Truck Overturns On Busy N3 Highway

At approximately 12h57 today, Friday 28 March 2008, Netcare 911 paramedics responded to a report of a very serious collision on the N3 direction towards Edenvale between the Buccleuch Interchange and the Marlboro drive off ramp.
 
Paramedics arrived to find that a large dump truck had collided with a silver car before overturning and coming to rest on its roof.

One victim was still trapped underneath the overturned truck and was declared dead at the scene by the paramedics. Another victim was in a critical condition and despite the efforts of the medical team died of severe injuries at the scene bring the number of fatalities to 2. Three other victims were stabilised by paramedics on the scene and have been transported by ambulances to the Netcare Sunninghill hospital. All of these 5 victims were from the dump truck. The lady driver of the car was shaken up but had no sign of any injuries and refused further medical treatment. Her car was pushed off the road by the truck and came to rest in the storm water drain on the side of the highway and she is very fortunate to escape without serious injuries.
 
Two hours have past since the collision and the highway remains partially closed with only the right hand lane open to traffic resulting in a severe backlog in the traffic.
 
This incident was attended to by paramedics from the provincial and private ambulances services, fire department and the Metro Police.

[ Information provided by Netcare 911 to the Road Safety & Arrive Alive Blog]

NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911

Think Kidz Campaign Raises Road Safety Awareness

Every ten minutes a child is injured or killed in a crash on South African
roads.  To increase road safety awareness amongst our children, the Road
Safety Foundation joined forces with Bridgestone South Africa, N3 Toll
Concessionaires and UNICEF to launch the “Think Kidz” programme on Van
Reenen’s Pass at the start of the Easter weekend.

UNICEF celebrity advocate, Nicole Fox, addressed the children at the Van
Reenen Primary School, giving them tips on how to be responsible road users

But I Was Forced To Speed!

You CAN report those potholes!

Are you also concerned about the potholes on our roads? Should we not assist our other road users and report these potholes? Earlier today the Arrive Alive Road Safety website received an email from a concerned motorist with the following message:

“I commend the super effort that you guys do…when have any of you last tried to drive anywhere by “just following the road” ….one cannot do it! On my Easter travels I have come across at least 10 cars changing tyres due to potholes, fell victim to one myself, passed one accident that was a direct result of a pothole.

What are being done to get our road to a drivable standard that will not make a farm road look like a highway?.”

The Arrive Alive website referred this message to the National Roads Agency and received a speedy response:

“ Thank you for this Sir! SANRAL has a policy whereby every single km of national road is covered by a Routine Road Maintenance contract. Included in the agreement between SANRAL and the contractor is a time limit for the fixing of potholes, which are identified through routine inspections of the road surface, and/or reporting by members of the public.

Should you come across potholes on the SANRAL managed sections of road (see the web site for details of road conditions – www.nra.co.za_ please report them to the appropriate authority whose details appear on large boards at the start of each section, together with the marker identification – the small blue boards at the side of the road, and they will be repaired within a short period, usually 24 hours.

Alternatively you can let me know about pot holes on this e-mail or info@nra.co.za and I will see that they get reported. Unfortunately many of the roads on which one travels fall outside the responsibility of SANRAL, and belong either to the provincial or to local authorities. [ The details of the appropriate authorities are available and can be provided to you.]

If your vehicle is damaged, you can also claim the repair of the damages from the authority, if you are able to prove that the pot holes actually caused the damage.

Warmest greetings

Wendy Watson

Project Manager: Marketing and Communications South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) Telephone 012 426 6053

A word of appreciation should go to the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) for the speedy response. It is important to remember that we can report these potholes and also report Hazardous Road Conditions to the National Traffic Call Centre via the Call Centre section on the Arrive Alive Website.

Let us assist our other road users and assist in identifying and reporting these dangerous areas!

Fatal N1 collision near William Nicol

Netcare 911 responded to a motor vehicle accident on the N1 freeway Southbound after William Nicol at about 10h30 today, in which one person was killed with two others suffering serious injuries and a third patient in a critical condition who was air lifted to hospital in the Netcare 911 helicopter after being treated on the ground by two Netcare 911 doctors and paramedics at the scene.

The photo’s of the scene give an idea of what was happening and show how the freeway was shut down completely while the patients were extricated and cut out of their vehicle before being loaded into the helicopter and ambulances respectively before being transported through to hospital.

The incident was also attended to by fire and rescue and Metro police who had started their investigation of the collision.

[ Information provided by Netcare 911 to the Road Safety & Arrive Alive Blog]

NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911

National Easter weekend accident statistics (606 incidents)from Netcare 911.

 

Paramedics and other rescue workers were on full alert for the Easter weekend. Traditionally this is a busy time of year for emergency services as there are massive increases in the volumes of traffic travelling towards KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. These huge numbers often result in many serious and fatal collisions along the national roads.

Below are the number of incidents that Netcare911 attended to since Thursday morning 20 March 2008 until 9am Tuesday morning 25 March 2008. Please keep in mind that there were other emergency scenes that were attended to by other services during the same time period.

During this same time period the Netcare 911 Gauteng helicopter crew attended to 5 victims that were seriously injured in collisions. The lines highlighted in blue compare the 2008 with the 2007 figures, for the same 96 hour time period.

Thursday 20 March 2008: Netcare 911 call centre dispatched emergency vehicles to 121 motor vehicle collisions and 19 pedestrian collisions.
Friday 21 March 2008: Netcare 911 call centre dispatched emergency vehicles to 133 motor vehicle collisions and 10 pedestrian collisions.
Saturday 22 March 2008: Netcare 911 call centre dispatched emergency vehicles to 89 motor vehicle collisions and 7 pedestrian collisions.
Sunday 23 March 2008: Netcare 911 call centre dispatched emergency vehicles to 88 motor vehicle collisions and 10 pedestrian collisions.
Monday 24 March 2008: Netcare 911 call centre dispatched emergency vehicles to 78 motor vehicle collisions and 18 pedestrian collisions.
Tuesday 25 March up to 9am: Netcare 911 call centre dispatched emergency vehicles to 30 motor vehicle collisions and 3 pedestrian collisions.

7 ) Limpopo region: 20 motor vehicle collisions and 01 pedestrian accident.
6 ) North West region: 30 motor vehicle collisions and 06 pedestrian accidents.
5 ) Mpumalanga region: 35 motor vehicle collisions and 03 pedestrian accidents.
4 ) Free State region: 50 motor vehicle collisions and 03 pedestrian accidents.
3 ) Cape region: 62 motor vehicle collisions and 12 pedestrian accidents. (E/Cape = 18+4, W/Cape = 34+7, N/Cape = 10+1)
2 ) Kzn region: 146 motor vehicle collisions and 10 pedestrian accidents.
1 ) Gauteng region: 180 motor vehicle collisions and 27 pedestrian accidents. (Jhb = 130+21, Pta = 32+4, Vaal = 18+2)

Total figure = 606 incidents: 539 motor vehicle collisions and 67 pedestrian collisions throughout South Africa..
606 Incidents in 129 hours = 4.7 incidents per hour.

Below are the Netcare 911 statistics for last years Easter weekend from 00h00 on Friday 06 April 2007 until 23h59 on Monday 09 April 2007:

In total, Netcare 911 attended to 450 motor vehicle accidents and 71 pedestrian accidents in 96 hours.

Friday 06 April 2007: Netcare 911 call centre received reports of 147 motor vehicle accidents.
Saturday 07 April 2007: Netcare 911 call centre received reports of 123 motor vehicle collisions.
Sunday 08 April 2007: Netcare 911 call centre received reports of 88 motor vehicle collisions.
Monday 09 April 2007: Netcare 911 call centre received reports of 92 motor vehicle accidents.

8 ) Free State region: 26 motor vehicle collisions and 02 pedestrian accidents.
7 ) North West region: 26 motor vehicle collisions and 03 pedestrian accidents.
6 ) Limpopo region: 27 motor vehicle collisions and 00 pedestrian accidents.
5 ) Mpumalanga region: 27 motor vehicle collisions and 00 pedestrian accidents.
4 ) Pretoria region: 37 motor vehicle collisions and 08 pedestrian accidents.
3 ) Cape region: 65 motor vehicle collisions and 17 pedestrian accidents.
2 ) Kzn region: 102 motor vehicle collisions and 18 pedestrian accidents.
1 ) Johannesburg region: 117 motor vehicle collisions and 23 pedestrian accidents.

Here are the Netcare 911 statistics for the 2006 Easter weekend from 00h00 on Friday 14 April 2006 until 23h59 on Monday 17 April 2006:

8 ) Limpopo region: 14 motor vehicle collisions and 02 pedestrian accidents.
7 ) North West region: 17 motor vehicle collisions and 03 pedestrian accidents.
6 ) Mpumalanga region: 17 motor vehicle collisions and 08 pedestrian accidents.
5 ) Free State region: 21 motor vehicle collisions and 01 pedestrian accident.
4 ) Pretoria region: 25 motor vehicle collisions and 04 pedestrian accidents.
3 ) Cape region: 50 motor vehicle collisions and 12 pedestrian accidents.
2 ) Kzn region: 76 motor vehicle collisions and 12 pedestrian accidents.
1 ) Johannesburg region: 97 motor vehicle collisions and 18 pedestrian accidents.

[ Information provided by Netcare 911 to the Road Safety & Arrive Alive Blog]

NETCARE 911

Butcher robbed, stabbed with meat clever

At just after 8am, Saturday 22 March 2008, Netcare 911 responded to a report that a man had been stabbed following a robbery at a butchery La Rochelle, Johannesburg.

The butcher had been robbed and assaulted by 3 men who stole meat and money from the store. The butcher was hit twice in his head with his large butchers clever before his attackers fled. The victim was stabilised on the scene by the medical team before being transported by a Netcare 911 ambulance o the South Rand hospital for further treatment.

[ Information provided by Netcare 911 to the Road Safety & Arrive Alive Blog]

NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911

Casual worker killed by falling forklift

At approximately 09h10 this morning, Monday 24 March 2008, Netcare 911 paramedics responded to a report of a serious industrial accident at a freight and storage services company in Gazina, Pretoria.

Paramedics were told that the the victim was driving the forklift over a steel ramp bridge when the forklift fell approximately 1m down to the ground. The victim was stuck between the forklift and a fence and another forklift was used to remove the initial forklift so that paramedics could access the victim. Unfortunately the man sustained a severe head injury and despite the efforts of the medical team he died of his injuries at the scene. A certificate of death was handed over to the police.
The victim is alleged to have been a casual worker and his age is not known.

This incident was attended to by Netcare 911 and the SAPS.

[ Information provided by Netcare 911 to the Road Safety & Arrive Alive Blog]

NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911