SABC to spread road safety message

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is set to air a series aimed at raising public awareness about road safety. Ingozi (an isiNguni word for ‘accident/danger’) is a 13-part 24-minute educational and informative drama series that will be aired from Sunday, 12 February until 7 May from 7.30pm to 8pm.

The series was commissioned by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), an agency of the Department of Transport. The series is premised on the notion that if people knew better, they would do better.

“[Road safety] has never been formally addressed on such a platform before,” Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said at the launch of the series on Sunday night.

“To further achieve our objective, the show will reach middle-income black people in the age group of 25 to 49 years. “The time slot which the show will be aired correlates perfectly with the demographics of people who are mostly affected by road crashes, which are 80% mainly black, involving drivers between the ages of 25 and 49,” the Minister said. According to the Minister, most passengers affected by accidents are between the ages of 20 and 39, while pedestrian statistics indicate that those aged between 20 and 44 are mostly likely to die in road traffic crashes.

“Ingozi seeks to provide quality road safety information, expecting that people will come to the right way of thinking and do their part to reduce carnage on our roads.

“The series engages elements such as attitudes and social norms that play a role in people's chosen behaviour,” Peters said.

She said road fatalities in South Africa are unacceptably high and they place an enormous burden on families, society and the economy in terms of lost productive capacity, lost skills as well as pain and suffering of survivors and the next of kin and loved ones who are left without breadwinners. – SAnews.gov.za