Pedestrian killed by runaway taxi

18 April 2008

This afternoon at about 17h00 a runaway taxi mounted a pavement, completely flattening an electrical box, which started burning,setting the grass alight in the area, this was extinguished before it spread too far,the vehicle then mounted another pavement killing a pedestrian who had been innocently walking home from work.The taxi came to a standstill after crashing through a precast wall.

Fourteen other passengers were injured, one of which was critical, the rest were less severely injured but still required treatment and transport to hospital. Brake failure was thought to have been the reason the taxi was unable to stop. The incident took place in Zeiss Str. in Laser park, Honeydew.

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

NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911

Call for Papers for Accident Investigation Conference 2008

Objectives of the Conference

- Create public and media awareness regarding road traffic accident investigation and reconstruction and the necessity of accident investigations and reconstruction;
- Share South African and international experiences regarding road traffic accident investigation and reconstruction;
- Showcase the latest technologies and getting together manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, buyers, exhibitors and participants;
- Building and improving relationships with new and existing suppliers through one-on-one relationship marketing;

The themes of the conference papers are selected to stimulate debate and motivate policy decision makers, South African Police Services, Traffic Authorities, private organizations, transport planners and transport engineers to view the provision of accident investigation and reconstruction as an integral part of transport safety industry.

These themes include:

1. Trucking and accidents
2. Dangerous goods vehicles accidents
3. Glazing on heavy vehicle brake systems
4. Human Factors and Commercial Transport
5. ABS on trucks (Intelligent system)
6. Trucking Industry 2010 – (HIV/AIDS)
7. Busses (working conditions of driver)
8. Commercial Accidents – Brake test vs Brake systems
9. Panel Van conversions to minibus taxis
10. Taxi overloading – The effect on dynamic vehicle behaviour in various circumstances.
11. Transport of passengers on the back of a goods vehicle
12. Speed as contributory factor of accidents in commercial vehicles
13. Accident Investigation in South Africa – Unique situation
14. Expert evidence in court
15. Cross-border transport and agreements
16. Law Enforcement training in Public Transportation.
17. Incident/Disaster Management at a road accident scene: - a South African perspective - an international perspective
18. New technologies in the field of accident investigation
19. Any relevant topic concerning commercial transport.

The Call for Papers has the following deadlines:

Dates for Submission of Papers Abstracts 30 May 2008
Paper and CV 30 June 2008
Presentation and final paper 30 July 2008

For any enquiries the following persons can be contacted:

Cielie Karow (012) 6656056 / 0833261992
Luchas Steenkamp (012) 6656111 / 0837041745

Horse, owner and groomsman injured in 4 vehicle smash.

At approximately 12h08 on Wednesday 16 April 2008, Netcare 911 paramedics responded to a report of a serious collision on the R55 at Summit road in Midrand.

Paramedics arrived to find that a truck and three other vehicles had been involved in the collision. One of the vehicles involved was a bakkie that was towing a horse box which was occupied by a horse and its groomsman. The horsebox overturned following the collision and was initially lying on its side.
The driver of the bakkie as well as the groomsman were treated by paramedics at the scene and were transported to the Netcare Sunninghill hospital for further treatment.

This is a popular horse riding area with several stables and vets nearby, several horse lovers arrived at the scene and put the horsebox back on its wheels and the crowd used an array of tools and a jack to open the buckled structure. A local vet was called to the scene and attended to the horse which was sedated before being moved to a nearby animal centre. The horse had sustained a gash and several other lacerations and bruises in the incident, the vet described the horses condition as stable.
The intersection was partially obstructed for approximately an hour before the scene was cleared.

This incident was attended to by Netcare 911, provincial fire and ambulance services and the Metro Police.

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

NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911

Milestone for road safety awareness and blogging!

A word of appreciation to all those who have assisted with content on road safety and those who took part in the discussion by providing feedback, suggestions or criticism!

May we continue to do everything in our power to create and enhance awareness of road safety!! We will do this on blogs, the ArriveAlive.co.za group on Facebook, the Arrive Alive Road Safety website and the mobile road safety website at arrivealive.mobi

May our friends in the on-line community also assist in the wider distribution of these messages and advise on topics that needs to be given more exposure!

School girl critical- knocked down by car outside her school

After 2:30pm today, Tuesday 15 April 2008, Netcare 911 paramedics responded to a report that a child had been knocked down on the R552 between Fourways and Lanseria.

Paramedics arrived to find that the incident had occurred near to the intersection of the R552 and Main road which is approximately 100 metres away from the Kwena Molapo secondary schools main gate. The exact cause of the incident is unknown but the car that knocked down the victim crossed over onto oncoming traffic before colliding with the victim and the car came to rest on the wrong side of the road.
When paramedics arrived they found that a member of the public had stopped to help and had initiated CPR, this effort had most probably kept the child alive until the medical team arrived. Paramedics found the young girl (approximately 11 years old) in cardiac and respiratory arrest.

Medication was administered and after a short ressuscitation effort the victims heart beat returned, however she was still in a critical condition and was placed onto emergency life support. The Netcare 911 helicopter was called to the scene and the road was closed to traffic in both directions for approximately 10 minutes while the flight doctor attended to the victim before she was airlifted to the Chris Hani Baragwaneth hospital.

Although the victim is still in a very critical condition with multiple injuries she was given a fighting chance by the “good Samaritan” who stopped to assist and applied life saving skills. The Netcare 911 paramedic thanked the lady for her efforts and assistance before she left the scene. Netcare 911 supports this kind of positive action taken by a trained member of the public and we recommend that all motorists, teachers, parents and child minders undertake a certified first aid course available through either Netcare 911 or any other accredited institution. CPR is known to save lives especially when applied timeously by a trained person.

This incident was attended to by Netcare 911, provincial fire and ambulance services, SAPS and the Metro Police.

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

NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911

Make yourself identifiable on the road!

 ICE (In Case of Emergency) is an international concept which allows emergency service personnel to obtain the contact information of family or friends of a person in an emergency situation, through accessing “ICE” on the person’s cellphone address book.

With ICE, paramedics will be able to notify your family or friends immediately, by accessing your information, rather than going through an entire address book guessing who to phone. Paramedics know what ICE means and they look for it straight away.

It is important that road users plan for the unexpected and enable paramedics to gain information about their patients. This has also been highlighted under the section “Identification of a patient”.

Another important tool to provide the information required by paramedics is to include the information in a LifeCap. This key ring holds important information such as allergies, blood group, next of kin etc.

The Arrive Alive road safety website will strive to assist in creating awareness of road safety and in making available tools to save lives on the road. We have committed towards the distribution of LifeCaps which are affordable and very effective in providing vital information of road users.

The public has been requested to provide insight in the development of the arrivealive.mobi website and perhaps this is the most important requirement for road safety – the acceptance that no person has all the knowledge and everyone can contribute in reaching the objective of road safety!

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

Jockstrap Pass is a place in Southern Africa

The quad bike website at Quad24 recently added new pictures of an area called Jockstrap pass and the name left me bemused. I immediately enquired as to the location and origin of this name.

Jockstrap Pass, situated in the Kingdom of Lesotho, has a Sosotho name “Rapaleboya” and is a pass of approximately 9 kilometres in length. From Ramabanta this pass circles in a route of approximately 70 Km of which the last 20 kilometres is part of the “highway” from Roma to Ramabantha. . The Makhaleng River is visible all along the way and is crossed at regular intervals by low water cement bridges.

But why the peculiar name “Jockstrap Pass”? It is known that cattle often slip and fall down the steep cliffs. When locals arrive at the carcases of these animals they only find the skins from which strips of leather are cut and used as clothing – and more specific- leather jockstraps!

This Blog has in recent months written about the pleasures of safe quad biking across Lesotho and also focused on the need for safe driving. Jockstrap Pass is perhaps one of the best kept secrets in Southern Africa - and a place best visited on 4×4’s and quad bikes.

The website Quad24 allows us all to view this area by visiting the photos on the section “Jockstrap Pass”

eNaTIS reaches major milestone

Widely rated as the international benchmark for systems of its kind, the Department of Transport’s National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS) recently celebrated its first anniversary. Launched on 12 April 2007, the system has proved to be outstanding in its first twelve months of operation.

So what exactly does the eNaTIS do? In a nutshell, the system is used by all provincial departments of transport, the SAPS, the SABS and a number of non-government organisations (such as vehicle manufacturers, importers and builders) to register and license vehicles. But it does much more. It manages and records applications for and authorisations of driving and learner’s licences. A highly effective law enforcement tool, the eNaTIS is used to ensure that the details of vehicles that are stolen are circulated and to prevent irregular and fraudulent re-registration of such vehicles. Importantly, the system also serves as a register for recording the decisions of safety as provided by the SABS.

The eNaTIS administrates R4 billion per annum and more than 140 million online transactions are performed each year.

The eNaTIS is a major improvement over the NaTIS, the 14-year-old system that it replaced. ‘The eNaTIS utilises the very latest technology and has, at its core, a central data centre,’ says Werner Koekemoer, the Department of Transport’s eNaTIS project manager. ‘The centralised architecture makes integrated road traffic management possible. It also means that there is no unnecessary duplication of infrastructure and data. As a result the system is much more cost-effective than its predecessor. Users connect to the system with PCs or thin clients (as opposed to the ‘dumb terminals’ used in the NaTIS) and connection speed is greatly improved. System security is of the highest order. The functionality of the system is far greater than that of its predecessor, as is its ability to incorporate enhancements to deal with new demands.’

There are 2 500 concurrent users and the system stores has more than 4.6 billion records in its database, including 20 million vehicle and driving licence records.

One of these enhancements is a highly successful centralised licence appointment booking system that is now in use in a number of provinces. In addition to streamlining the booking process, the new booking system validates examiners, testing centres and appointments, and prevents unscrupulous officials from abusing the system by extorting money from the public in order to obtain driving licence appointments. Further down the road the system will also incorporate strict electronic tagging of documents to eradicate the falsification of vehicle licences, registration certificates and driving licence cards.

The system software contains more than 3 million lines of code and 400 000 man hours were spent on development, of which testing represents around 25%.

Commenting on the brief teething problems experienced after launch, Koekemoer says switching over from the previous system was an extremely complex exercise akin to a major military campaign. ‘It entailed, among other things, transferring more than 4.6 billion records from 14 decentralised databases to the current centralised one, equipping and training thousands of users across the width and breadth of South Africa and implementing hundreds of functional enhancements. Against this background the teething problems, the extent of which was hugely exaggerated in the media, were not really significant. We experienced system availability of 93% over a period of approximately a fortnight. Therefore, contrary to incorrect reports, the system was available although functioning was briefly impaired as indicated.’

The eNaTIS is currently performing optimally and is handling very large transaction volumes speedily – on average, around 600 000 transactions are performed each day and monthly totals regularly exceed 13 million.

Koekemoer says that over the past 12 months the system has lived up to expectations and has proved to be a major asset to the country in terms of its functionality. ‘The eNaTIS has undoubtedly greatly enhanced the Department’s service delivery levels, and will continue to do so’ says Koekemoer. ‘Through careful planning and research the system’s design allows for further enhancements and the utilisation of a wide array of new technologies, as and when the need arises. As we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, South Africa’s citizens can rest assured that the eNaTIS will remain equal to the many challenges that the next decade is bound to bring.’

[ Information provided by eNaTIS to the Arrive Alive Road Safety Website]

Aids threat for parademic

A report in the media earlier today highlighted the plight of paramedics and the dangers to their own health posed by risks on the road! It was reported in the media that a paramedic has to go on HIV medication after she was cut by glass at a crash site on Saterday.

With the permission of the family, blood was taken from the crash victim at Ngwelezane Hospital for testing for the HI virus. The hospital then lost the sample and the paramedic now faces 12 weeks of treatment.

The Road Safety & Arrive Alive Blog has in the past commented on the need to be appreciative of our paramedics and it is important that we are often reminded of their heroic efforts to save lives!
The Arrive Alive website and Blog would like to wish our paramedics well in all their activities – may you always be aware of the appreciation by road users to your efforts and may perform these duties safely!

GRSP South Africa provides update on road safety activities

  The GRSP South Africa has provides insight towards some of the Road Safety Activities that are implemneted across South Africa:

• SA Red Cross Society ( www.redcross.org.za )

The SA Red Cross Society (SARCS) is totally committed to include road safety themes in their National Peer Education Programme. They already had a first interaction with the road safety officials in the W Cape to advise them on themes and programmes that can be incorporated into their programme. The next step will be a workshop for their trainers. The SARCS makes use of 900 volunteer peer educators throughout the country to educate learners and community members about health matters such as HIV/AIDS. Road safety education will in future also be included in their programme. South Africa is the first country to actively respond to the IFRC in Geneva’s decision to include road safety in the Red Cross programmes. The “Practical Road Safety Guide” developed by the IFRC and GRSP will be included in the training package. (Find it under “Joint Publications” at www.GRSProadsafety.org ). Further activities will be focused on the regional workshop that will include 10 African countries and which will be hosted by SA later this year. The Pan African Conference of the IFRC will also take place in SA in November and GRSP and the Red Cross Society will be involved.

• Drive Alive ( www.drivealive.org.za )

Moira Winslowis still very busy presenting her road safety theatre programme, “Syabonana” (see and be seen) at schools in Soweto. She received a sponsorship from the FIA Foundation with which she plans to hand out 5000 reflective bags to school children in Soweto. A further 1000 bags will be provided with money received from FEM, an insurance company. In the meantime a production house has started with the filming of a documentary on her life and commitment to the promotion of road safety awareness amongst vulnerable road users.

• South Africa Against Drunk driving (SADD) ( www.sadd.org.za )

Caro Smit presents her SADD programme to schools, taverns and shebeens. SADD has been awarded a sponsorship by SA Breweries to extend its programmes to more areas. Caro facilitated the donation of a Draeger 7110 to Stellenbosch Traffic Department with whom she is running a drink and drive programme for university students.

• QuadPara Association of South Africa (QASA) (www.qasa.co.za )

26 Members of the QuadPara Association were employed for the “Buckle Up - We don’t want new members” campaign over Easter. The Association is a proud supporter of road safety and the prevention of injuries.

Congratulations to Ari Seirlis and his team: The BUCKLE UP – WE DON’T WANT NEW MEMBERS campaign was awarded the S.A.Guild of Motoring Journalists “Road Safety Project of the Year” award. This year, the campaign has been funded by the National Lottery Trust Fund.

It was the first Easter that the Association’s members deployed the “Gear Up – We don’t want new members” campaign which is in partnership with the Steelwings Motorcycle Club who have funded this campaign.

In the meantime the Advisor is investigating the possibility to link up Engen and Woolworths in a partnership to support the QASA project at Engen filling stations where Woolworths food stores are located.

Read more about Ari Seirlis and the QuadPara Association’s activities at www.qasa.co.za

• RTMC Traffic Law Enforcement Conference

The RTMC will host its 1st Annual national RTMC Traffic Enforcement Conference from 19-21 may in Bloemfontein. The conference theme is: Towards effective and sustainable road traffic enforcement strategies – an achievable goal for South Africa. Engen is one of the corporate sponsors of the conference.

Obtain more information from Ms Thato Mosena at 012 665 6058 or thatom@rtmc.co.za

• The national pedestrian safety strategy.

The RTMC is facilitating the process of developing a National Pedestrian Safety Management Plan. In the first phase the provinces had to identify the most hazardous pedestrian locations in the provinces by making use of a uniform inventory. This information has now been submitted to the RTMC and the rest of the process will be discussed at a workshop at the RTMC on 17 April 2008.

The National Pedestrian Management Plan is based on a holistic approach integrating activities in the fields of engineering, enforcement, education and training, information, etc. The Plan also provides for partnerships with the private sector, NGOs and community structures.

Several GRSP members have already indicated their interest in supporting the pedestrian safety programme and the provinces as well as SANRAL will discuss progress with the national plan during a workshop at the RTMC on 17 April 2008.

The focus on pedestrian hazardous locations is included in SANRAL’s community development project plans for several hazardous locations along the national routes in KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Western Cape and Northern Cape.

Chevron has indicated interest in the pedestrian safety programme and will in the near future take a decision on what support will be provided.

Engen has indicated its interest in supporting the programme at locations in the North West province, Northern Cape and Free State. Discussions are already underway and in-depth briefing will continue after the workshop.

The programme is based on a partnership principle and GRSP members are encouraged to partner with the RTMC, provinces and other participants.

A workshop for GRSP members will be held soon after the RTMC and provinces workshop in order to provide more information on locations and partnerships to other members who are also interested in participating.

• National Youth Road Safety Convention

The Annual National Youth Road safety Convention will be hosted by the Mpumalanga province from 25 – 27 June 2008. Themes that will be discussed will include the 2010 road safety challenges, drinking and driving, pedestrian safety, and government and private sector partnerships.

GRSP members are encouraged to support this very important event which is expected to be attended by 250 students. Members who are interested in making a contribution or attend may contact the GRSP Advisor.

• National Schools Road Safety Debating Competition

This annual event, which is normally sponsored by BP SA and the AA of SA, is characterised by the outstanding debating skills of the participants. The participants are coached by national debating experts who teach them to debate according to international rules.

GRSP members are encouraged to support this programme which starts with local and regional competitions and which ends with a national competition. The national competition, which will take place in August or September, should not be missed. The standard of debating is very impressive. More information will be provided at the AGM in May.

• GRSP Namibia Conference

GRSP Namibia hosted a conference on seatbelts in Windhoek on 8 & 9 April. The conference was sponsored by the German company, GTZ, as well as the gTKP. GRSP SA was represented by me, Deon Sonnekus of Volvo SA, Elrich Johannes, and from the RTMC Ashref Ismail and the newly appointed Senior Manager for Engineering and Research, Dr. Moyana. All of us presented papers related to the theme.

• Road Safety Information

Apart from the http://www.grsproadsafety.orgwebsite Adv Johan Jonck’s http://www.arrivealive.co.zawebsite remains an important source of information.