This morning Netcare 911 paramedics attended to two separate fatal collisions:
 
1) N1/N4 Pretoria
At approximately 06h27 this morning, Wednesday 14 May 2008, Netcare 911 paramedics responded to reports of a bus collision at the N1/N4 split outside Pretoria.
 
It appears that the bus was travelling southwards on the N1 before taking the split to the N4 Pretoria when it overturned in the hairpin bend.
The scene was co-ordinated by the Tshwane Emergency Services and according to their final count there was a total of 88 patients that were attended to by paramedics at the scene. The injured were transported by ambulances to the Pretoria academic, Tshwane district and Mamelodi hospitals.
Below is a breakdown of the number of patients:
1 x patient died at the scene.
1 x Critical male patient.
42 x Patients with a variety of slight to more serious injuries.
44 x Patients with minor injuries.
One of the patients that Netcare 911 transported was the adult male who was in a critical condition. He had sustained a severe chest injury and was placed onto emergency life support; he was intubated and manually ventilated by the paramedic.
 
This emergency scene was attended to by a variety of emergency service providers who worked together not only to get all of the injured people to hospital but to clear the scene as quickly as possible. These included several private ambulance services,  provincial ambulance service, fire department, towing service and the traffic police.
 
2) N12 between Rondebult and Atlas roads on the east rand.
At approximately 05h56 this morning, Wednesday 14 May 2008, Netcare 911 paramedics responded to a report of a serious collision on the N12 direction east between the above mentioned offramps.
It seems that three vehicles, a car, a minibus taxi and a bakkie were involved in the collision. The bakkie overturned in the incident and paramedics attended to 4 patients at the scene. One adult male died of his injuries at the scene, another was in a serious condition after sustaining a serious upper leg fracture and the other two were very lucky to escape with minor injuries. It appeared that the deceased was ejected from the bakkie. The injured man was transported by ambulance to a private hospital for further treatment.
The occupants of the minibus taxi and car were not injured in the incident.
 
This incident was attended to by Netcare 911, provincial fire and ambulance services and the traffic police.
Traffic in the area was severely affected as motorists slowed down to catch a glimpse of the scene resulting in long delays.

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

NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911

In April 2008, overall transaction volumes on the National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS) showed an increase of more than 9% compared to the previous month. This can be ascribed to the fact that there was only one public holiday in April, as opposed to two in March.

Interface transactions (performed on other computer systems that have interfaces to the eNaTIS) increased by 20.54% compared to March, while there were also significant increases in reports executed (11.16%) and transactions related to vehicle registrations (9.74%), vehicle introductions (9.14%) and learner’s licences (8.78%). System uptime was once again 100%.

In total, 12,949,629 transactions were recorded during April 2008. The full breakdown of the transactions performed during April is as follows: 76,048 learner’s licence authorisations, 204,811 driving licence card orders, 71,437 vehicle record introductions, 276,967 vehicle registrations and 732,928 vehicle licensing transactions. In addition, 100,844 reports were executed on the system. These reports are utilised for, among others, financial reconciliations and audits.

The 1st of April was the busiest day with 634,913 transactions performed.

4,332,362 transactions were performed on other computer systems that have interfaces to the eNaTIS (such as those of the South African Police Service, vehicle manufacturers, banks and insurance companies), while users of the eNaTIS application at registering authorities, testing stations and provincial authorities performed 8,617,267 transactions.

The Johannesburg service centre once again performed the most transactions (753,380) followed by the City of Cape Town (542,589), Pretoria (535,331), Durban (270,024) and Germiston (160,793).

With 70,673 transactions Toyota SA was the most active non-governmental entity using a system-to-system interface with the eNaTIS, followed by Mercedes-Benz of SA (67,594), Volkswagen of SA (55,987), BMW SA (48,826) and the Delta Motor Corporation (44,102).

Many experts have provided advice on how to avoid road rage. A recent post on this blog included the insightful piece on the “Law of the Garbage Truck”. Another very important strategy is that of renowned Marketing Guru, Chris Moerdyk. He penned down an excellent bit of advice on a uniquely African way to fight road rage. It reads:

“ I am one of those people that gets into a rage on the road. And it depresses me. Frustrates me. But I have found the answer.

Quite simply, every time I get into my car from now on I am going to imagine that I am in the Kruger National Park.

I am going to drive at a pace sedate enough not to run over or have my paintwork damaged by all those crazy guinea fowl that always seem to wait for an oncoming vehicle before scurrying across the road. Like all those pedestrians who dice with death on a daily basis trying to run across motorways.

To me, there are no buses. Only elephants. No big trucks. Only Rhinos.

No combi taxis. Only herds and herds of impala, mindlessly springing hither then thither and rushing about desperately looking for somewhere to commit suicide.

There will be no more idiots hogging the fast lane at two miles a fortnight. Only the odd warthog trotting along in the same direction as I am, oblivious to all but its own strange little world.

There will be no more cyclists riding five abreast. Only waterbuck with circular white saddlemarks on their bottoms. No more delivery motorbikes. Only wild dogs with their strange but fascinating penchant for snapping at car tyres.

I’ve been trying it for a week now and it works a treat. I just go into bush driving mode.

I feel as if I am on my way back to “camp” after a day of animal spotting and bird watching and all I want is a cool shower and a whacking great whiskey. In the kind of mood where I couldn’t care less if I never saw another rhino with or without its prehensile lip, nor if I ever spotted another wailing cisticola as long as I lived. I’ve been in that kind of mood when I’ve come up behind the umpteenth herd of elephant standing in the middle of the road.

I don’t lean out of the window and yell; “what are you waiting for, you bunch of morons? Do you think you own the @#*& road or something?” and then start thumping the steering wheel with such passion I can’t hold a golf club for a week.

No, I simply assume that elephants don’t have the foggiest notion about the concept of motorised road transport. My lack of road rage in this case has nothing to do with the fact that when you abuse an elephant it tends to stomp on you because that’s what buses and trucks do as well. But, somehow, it hasn’t prevented me in the past from letting rip with a string of ripe invective in their direction.

Now, this might all look like giving up and lowering my standards. I don’t believe so. It is simply a compromise in a country where the road traffic authorities harp on endlessly with “Don’t fool yourself, speed kills” and completely ignore the fact that unlicensed and untrained drivers, unroadworthy vehicles, bald tyres, incorrect following distance, overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic and a million other things also kill people on the roads. “

Let us consider this strategy …. when in Africa let us think of Africa…or follow the advice that keeps your mind at peace and your body safe!

Something you might not face on the roads in Europe! The Arrive Alive Website was provided with a photo titled “When do you know the precise moment to sh.t in your pants?”

Foreign visitors need not fear – this photo was taken in a nature reserve and not on the road between cities. Even though we need to be cautious at all times. - it is highly unlikely that you will have a similar experience such as the couple in this vehicle!

For road safety advice and suggestions when traveling across South Africa – visit the Arrive Alive Road Safety Website or even from your cellular phone the mobile website arrivealive.mobi

At the launch of the Road Safety Campaign ‘Operation Juggernaut’, Mr Jeff Radebe, MP Minister of Transport reflected on the Taxi Recapitalization Program. He revealed that Government has, through the Transport Action Plan, allocated R9.2Bn to make sure that come 2010 our road network infrastructure is able to transport passengers safely. The Taxi Recapitalization Program targets the recapitalization of 80 % of the current taxi fleet by 2010. At the end of January 2008 more than 13 261 Old Taxi Vehicles have been scrapped.

An important aspect of Taxi Recapitalization is not only scrapping the old taxi’s, but also to implement safety requirements on new vehicles and to certify which vehicles may be used to transport commuters from here on!

The list of certified vehicles for 2008 has been released by the Department of Transport and will be updated twice per month. This list also includes the detail of authorized builders of vehicle bodies and converters.

On the 28th of April this Blog featured a story titled “Community activism required for road safety”. This featured the plea from a concerned community in Rustenburg next to the N4 Bakwena highway – a plea for more attention to road safety in this area.

This was shared with the National Roads Agency and I am pleased to reveal that a response was received earlier today from the Operationa Manager of the Bakwena Concessionaire.

I would like to quote from the response:

“We have been in discussion with the …[the concerned citizen]. Bakwena as the concessionaire for the N1N4 toll road is actively involved with the safety on the roads operated by them.

There are regular meetings with the traffic authorities along the route (North West Province, Limpopo, Gauteng and Tshwane) to discuss safety and enforcement issues. Every incident is investigated by Bakwena to determine the cause of the accidents. The portion of road from Brits to Rustenburg has been monitored and pedestrian fences /bridge installed. In addition the drivers of vehicles have been observed to be particularly aggressive when overtaking slower moving vehicles forcing them into the yellow line or overtaking on the left shoulder on this section of road.

Bakwena currently operated the Mantsole Traffic Control Centre on the N1 and will be operating the Bapong TCC on the N4 when it opens later this year. These facilities do contribute to reducing the number of overloaded and unroadworthy trucks on the roads (both toll and parallel routes).

A public meeting is being arranged next week with the Rustenburg Association of Business where issues including safety will be discussed……”

The Road Safety & Arrive Alive Blog would like to extend a word of appreciation to the National Roads Agency and the Bakwena Concessionaire in addressing these concerns. It is important for road safety that the public can share in road safety efforts and that there is cooperation with other role players and road authorities.

We would like to invite the public to share their concerns via this Blog and the Arrive Alive Road Safety Website.

A friend once remarked that there is no limit to your success if you do not mind who receives the credit. Another said that the secret of his success was that he discovered at an early age that “he is not God”. Perhaps these are 2 of the most important lessons to remember when attempting something as important as raising road safety awareness.

In an earlier post on this blog I referred to the fact that” 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…”

The Arrive Alive Road Safety Website has over the past 5 years worked hard at creating awareness of road safety, especially with a focus towards South Africa. This has included efforts such as the ArriveAlive.co.za group on Facebook as well as the recently developed mobile road safety website at arrivealive.mobi

When approached by a friend from Nigeria, we volunteered to assist in the wider distribution of road safety messages in that region. In a 2007 article on Worldpress.org it was revealed that “It is not just that there are more accidents in Nigeria; it is that the accidents are more deadly. Officially, around 50 percent were fatal in 2006, and that figure has been much higher in other years. Serious injuries are even more common. Out of the 9,114 reported accidents in 2006, 17,390 people wound up in hospital.”

It is perhaps not that well known that several NGO’s and Corporate Companies have been involved in efforts to enhance road safety in Nigeria. I am well aware of the contribution by Chevron towards Arrive Alive Initiatives in Nigeria, and we can only hope that the mobile road safety website at Nigeria.arrivealive.mobi will contribute towards these efforts.

The Road Safety & Arrive Alive Blog will strive towards including regular updates on the road safety efforts in Nigeria, and would like to invite all Nigerians and friends from across the globe to add their suggestions and recommendations on these efforts!!

During the past long weekend, from midnight on Thursday 01 May 2008 until midnight on Sunday 04 May 2008, the Netcare 911 call centre dispatched emergency vehicles to 401 motor vehicle collisions and 55 pedestrian collisions totalling 456 collisions throughout South Africa during the 96 hour time period.

Thankfully these numbers are down on last weekends collisions which totalled 590 in 96 hours.

Thursday 01 May 2008: 101 motor vehicle and 20 pedestrian collisions in SA, totalling 121 for the day.
The four busiest regions were:

1) Gauteng region: 42 motor vehicle and 12 pedestrian collisions.
2) Kzn region: 23 motor vehicle and 4 pedestrian collisions.
3) Cape region: 11 motor vehicle and 1 pedestrian collision.
4) Mpumalanga region: 9 motor vehicle and 0 pedestrian collisions.

Friday 02 May 2008: 96 motor vehicle and 15 pedestrian collisions in SA, totalling 111 for the day.
The four busiest regions were:

1) Gauteng region: 49 motor vehicle and 7 pedestrian collisions.
2) Kzn region: 17 motor vehicle and 2 pedestrian collisions.
3) Cape region: 11 motor vehicle and 4 pedestrian collisions.
4) Mpumalanga region: 5 motor vehicle and 1 pedestrian collision.

Saturday 03 May 2008: 108 motor vehicle and 10 pedestrian collisions in SA, totalling 118 for the day.
The four busiest regions were:

1) Gauteng region: 56 motor vehicle and 2 pedestrian collisions.
2) Kzn region: 16 motor vehicle and 3 pedestrian collisions.
3) Cape region: 8 motor vehicle and 3 pedestrian collisions.
4) Free State region: 9 motor vehicle and 0 pedestrian collisions.

Sunday 04 May 2008: 96 motor vehicle and 10 pedestrian collisions in SA, totalling 106 for the day.
The four busiest regions were:

1) Gauteng region: 29 motor vehicle and 2 pedestrian collisions.
2) Kzn region: 20 motor vehicle and 0 pedestrian collisions.
3) Cape region: 11 motor vehicle and 2 pedestrian collisions.
4) Free State region: 10 motor vehicle and 1 pedestrian collision.

The stats show that Gauteng was the busiest region comprising almost 44% of the national collision totals.

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

NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911

At approximately 19h30 this evening, Sunday 04 May 2008, Netcare 911 responded to a report of a serious collision on the M1 highway above Empire road, Johannesburg.
 
It was alleged that the minibus taxi was returning from a church service in Tembisa when the incident occurred. The minibus taxi was travelling towards Johannesburg, skid marks show that the vehicle veered across the road and side swiped the centre concrete wall that had a steel armco barrier above it. Most of the drivers side of the taxi was sheered off exposing the occupants. Four occupants were ejected at the place where the taxi collided with the barrier, all four died at the scene. The taxi did not over turn but rather carried on driving for about another 400 meters before coming to rest in the emergency lane. A further 3 people died at that location. Paramedics from various services attended to 10 injured commuters, 1 was in a critical condition, 6 sustained serious injuries and 3 were lucky to escape with minor injuries. The driver was one of the people who died at the scene, most of the deceased victims sustained severe blunt trauma injuries.
 
All three lanes of the M1 south were closed to traffic while emergency workers attended to the incident. The fire department used pressurised water to wash the road at the two points. The highway was reopened to traffic just after 10pm.
 
This incident was attended to by paramedics from the private and provincial ambulance services, fire department and the Metro Police and their specialist Accident Investigation Unit.

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

NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911

At approximately 08h14 this morning, Sunday 04 May 2008, Netcare 911 responded to reports of a serious collision on the Moloto road about ten kilometers outside of Pretoria.

Paramedics found that a bus and a car were involved in a fatal collision. Two occupants of the car were killed in the incident and fire fighters had to use the “jaws of life” to free their bodies from the wreckage. Rescue personnel attended to a total of 32 patients at the scene, the majority of these were lucky to escape with relatively minor injuries. The injured were transported by ambulances from various services to the Pretoria Academic and Mamelodi hospitals.

This incident was attended to by paramedics from the private and provincial ambulances services, fire department and the traffic police.

Long weekend collision stats:

Since midnight on Thursday 01 May until 23h59 on Saturday 03 May 2008, in a time period of 72 hours, the Netcare 911 call centre has dispatched emergency vehicles to 305 motor vehicle and 45 pedestrian collisions, totalling 350 collisions throughout South Africa.

During a 96 hour time period last weekend, the Netcare 911 call centre dispatched emergency vehicles to 516 motor vehicle and 74 pedestrian collision totalling 590 incidents throughout South Africa. We are hoping that this long weekends totals will be less that the high number from last weekend.

The Netcare 911 long weekend stats for regional and national collisions will be updated on Monday 05 May 2008.

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

NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911