CHAPTER TWO
2.3 Rationale for the Decade of Action
Road crashes have become recognized internationally as a social and economic burden, particularly in low and middle income countries. This has led to the World Health Organisation, World Bank and United Nations to profer recommendations to mitigate against the challenges faced on roads internationally, particularly in the developing world (WHO,2010)
The reason that this strategy is designed for implementation over a ten-year period is because South Africa is joining the international community in the Decade of Action for Safety from 2010 to 2020. This is an initiative of the Commission for Global Road Safety. This campaign supports the Millennium Development Goals from the world wide community and the Accra agreement of 2007 by the African Ministers of Transport to halve fatalities in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2015. This international and
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regional movement supports the commitment of our own Minister of Transport who is a declared Road Safety Champion.
It is obvious from the efforts of the high income countries that road crashes and fatalities can be reduced through specific efforts in the widely recognized best practice model of the four “E‟s”, (this is discussed in greater detail in section 2.3.1 to 2.3.4 in this Chapter), and with sufficient political and financial support from role- players such as the national insurance and transport related industries.
When basing a strategy it is essential to base ALL actions taken on specific, scientifically proven challenges and appropriate solutions, so that the maximum effectiveness is achieved and a relationship between the remediation processes is developed to enhance the results.
The challenges in South Africa are seen primarily as human behaviour that is:
A lack of knowledge of the rules of the road and willingness to abide by those rules;
as well as inadequate enforcement and a lack of follow up of fines and the resulting culture of impunity in respect to punishment of offenders.
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The following diagram as presented in the document indicates the contribution of the
road environment to trauma on the roads (DoA, 2011, p.5)
FIGURE 1
Contributory Factors to Road Trauma
Factors are often inter-related and more than one contributing factor exists. The components that comprise the transport system include the user, the vehicles and infrastructure. These components operate by interacting with one another. An accident is the result of an incorrectly adjusted interaction between the system components.
According to Figure 2.1. human factors account for 75% to 79% of road trauma. The human factor of accidents refers to the inadequacy of the variables that characterises the human component, that is age, fatique, speeding, drinking and driving (Van Elslande, Naing & Engel, 2008). Factors associated with the road environment account for between 5% to 10% of road trauma. According to (WHO, 2010) report, engineering measures have been developed to mitigate road trauma.Vehicle defects such as faulty tyres and brakes contribute between 5% to 20% of road trauma.
human factors 75%-
79%
road 5%- 10%
vehicle
5%-20%
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Another challenge is the line function for road safety with respect to the constitutional division of transport functions between government and the various agencies, tasked with road safety initiatives. The agencies in South Africa are Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) and Cross Border Transport Agency (CBRTA).
The Minister of Transport has requested that the road safety line function develop a goal, vision and mission to support the Departmental vision, which is:
To provide safe, reliable, effective, efficient and fully integrated transport systems and operations as well as infrastructure; which will best meet the needs of freight and passenger customers and commuters at improving levels of service and cost in a fashion which supports government strategies for economic and social development, whilst being environmentally and economically sustainable.(DoA, 2011, P.6.)
The consultation process has come with the following as basic terms of reference for the projects:
GOAL: To reduce fatalities on the roads of South Africa by 50% by 2015, with further reductions by 2020.
VISION: Safe and efficient road transport, contributing to economic growth and development, through improved co-operation and compliance from road users.
MISSION: Using strong political will and commitment to reach all road users, using a systems-based approach of education, enforcement, engineering and evaluation to change attitude and behavior (P.6).
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FIGURE 2
World’s Best Road Safety Practice (DoA, 2011, p. 8)
2.3.1 Enforcement
To have the best possible enforcement project, one must create the perception of substantially increased enforcement activities. Visibility must be increased by as much as four times. In 2010, in South Africa, a campaign was launched to improve visibility. The target was to have a thousand road blocks every day and to check a million vehicles every month. The challenge to achieving this target is the substantial shortage of dedicated road traffic inspectors (RTI).
It is advocated that agencies concentrate on a single behaviour challenge at any given time. For example offences relating to seat belts must be carried out over a period of two months. Education and advertising campaigns must support this initiative simultaneously. This is done to maximize the efficiency of the enforcement by educating the public about correct behaviour regarding the use of seat belts.
Enforcement High visibility Overt and covert Follow up of fines
Evaluation What works Why does it work
How many lives does it save
Education Heightened awareness Advertising
Engineering Road design Road condition Vehicle design
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Research as carried out by the National Department of Transport indicates that seeing a traffic officer affects behaviour for seventeen minutes. It is important that officers are seen actively enforcing the law with maximum impact. The public must be implicitly made aware that if they disobey the rules of the road, they will be caught, and they will be punished.
In 2010 South African enforcement agencies responded to a call by the Minister which demanded that a million vehicles and drivers are checked every month for legality in a project which will last for at least 12 months. This began on 1 October 2010 and has continued until September 2011. This campaign concentrated on drunk driving, seat-belts and vehicle condition and legality.
Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences and demerit points
Implementation of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) system is designed to:
Reduce the impact of large numbers of fines on the court system
Decriminalize the lesser offences
Identify repeat offenders
Improve the fine collection process and ensure that people are appropriately punished for their offences
Introduce the demerit system to enable the process of taking dangerous drivers of the road by withdrawing their licences
Ring-fencing funding collected in fines specifically for road safety projects
Demerit points:
In countries like Ireland, Canada, Australia and New-Zealand demerit points are issued when fines are paid. Payment of fines in these cases is an “admission of guilt”
and when a certain number of demerit points are allocated to drivers their driving licenses are suspended for a period of time.
34 2.3.2 Education
Projects should be concentrated on those who are repeat offenders, and groups who are considered “at risk”. These are public transport and heavy duty drivers, pedestrians, young men, children and the elderly.
Advertising should emphasise the consequences of poor behaviour in ways in which it makes people think “that could happen to me”. It is no good giving the message
“slow down” without saying what will happen if you don‟t comply..
Special education programmes in schools and with workers in business or industry should be ongoing, to ensure that they understand the rules of the road and the consequences of behaving in a way which does not comply with laws or which is careless or negligent.
2.3.3 Engineering The road environment
It is important to find out where crashes occur on a regular basis and ensure that there are no challenges to the road‟s engineering. Authorities can always erect fences which control pedestrian activities, or traffic calming methods such as speed humps and rumble strips or traffic circles to slow traffic down where necessary.
Auditing processes at design, construction and maintenance stages are also important, when one considers challenges to safe design.
The freeway system in South Africa was based on the American system, where the only factor that was taken into account was the vehicle. No provisions were made for pedestrians, cyclists or other vulnerable road users. The European model caters for all road users. South Africa is now paying the price for that choice, with many places, including rural areas and affluent suburbs, not having adequate pedestrian or cycling facilities which can be used safely by those who are walking or cycling as a choice or as a necessity (DoA, 2011)
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Human beings will and do make mistakes and the roads should provide a forgiving environment which allows for reasonable levels of misuse and carelessness.
The International Road Federation has indicated that South Africa has amongst the best national road networks in the world after Germany and is on par with France.
The provincial and local authority road systems are however a challenge, due to a lack of adequate maintenance and the existence of potholes. Should maintenance be delayed for three years beyond the recommended time, the cost of rehabilitation escalates by a factor of 6, and should it be delayed for a further three years, the factor increases to x18 (DoA, 2011, P.12)
Vehicle design and maintenance
Vehicle design and condition is also important, with safety equipment such as seat belts and airbags, and general good condition of brakes, lights, steering and shock – absorbers are vital to ensure safety. Vehicle condition plays a large role in crashes in South Africa due to the age of the national fleet (more than 10 years) and the current situation where vehicles are only tested for road worthiness on change of ownership.
The introduction of periodic testing (this was proposed since the mid1970s) is a priority to ensure that, owners keep their vehicles in the best possible condition, to ensure safety and to prolong their lives and improve its second-hand value
2.3.4 Evaluation
The best practice in road safety is always based on intervening on a scientific basis:
Where are the big problems and how does one ameliorate them?
What works as an intervention and what does not work?
Are the particular measures taken, culturally appropriate in terms of a particular nation and community?
What can be done to improve public understanding in terms of crashes and their consequences?
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Is there any way in which you can improve your lobbying and advocacy skills and improve your relationships with your local council to ensure that the necessary steps are taken to make your community safer? (DoA, 2011, p.12.)
Monitoring and evaluation is considered to be one of the pillars of international best practice. Where statistics are unreliable, it is necessary to monitor not only in terms of straight data, but also in terms of activities carried out to achieve the goals, as well as the use of resources (personnel and financial) and the cost benefit activities of such successes.
Monitoring should include reports on the following basis:
Measure the scale of programmes (inputs)
Assess behaviour shifts (outputs)
Monitor safety improvements across areas of roads, users and vehicles (outcomes-data)
Report on all enforcement activities across all jurisdictions