WE now know, through years of observation, that more laws won’t reduce road deaths when the laws we have already are not enforced or obeyed.
Instead, we need support from all parts of Mzansi society: past experience already shows that achieving real results in improving road safety needs more than just legislation alone. It needs buy-in and support from all sectors of society: government, the public and other organisations.
The Global Road Safety Partnership South Africa is an organisation committed to creating a country free of crashes and the consequent death and injury that follows.
Lucky Molaudzi, the general manager of the safety partnership, said: “We are uniting businesses, civil society, law enforcement and government agencies to reduce road fatalities and injuries.
“The partnership aims to align its members according to the initiatives of the National Road Safety Initiative. We also aim to work with other countries and create a guide for international road safety.”
The partnership has already launched the Safe Routes to School project in KZN. In eThekwini Municipality, the safe routes project educated children on road safety which has had major results.
The partnership also works closely with BP South Africa. Bhekizwe Dlodlo, crisis and continuity management and road safety manager at BP, said: “Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan conjure images of terrible death and destruction, but South African roads are more dangerous than those war-torn countries.”
“A fellow GRSP South Africa member mentioned more people die on South African roads than what are killed by bombs and guns in those countries. This is the reality of our roads, sad but true. For the above reason, BPSA is taking a stand to promote road safety. Driving safety is one of our golden rules and a lot of resources are deployed to support this initiative.”Molaudzi also said: “We work to reduce the high fatality rates suffered on our roads. By working together, we have the power to bring about real change that will positively affect all South Africans.”
