Technology curbs holiday road deaths
ROAD deaths dropped to 246 during 2018/19 festive season compared with the 262 deaths recorded in the previous holiday season, the Western Cape Transport Department said yesterday.
The latest statistics released by Transport MEC Donald Grant, provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa and director for Traffic Law Enforcement Farrel Payne showed that 16 fewer people died on the province’s roads in December than in the previous holiday season, with pedestrian deaths remaining the leading class of fatality.
Grant said: “A full complement of smart enforcement technologies were deployed across the province to bolster the efforts of increasing compliance and saving more lives on the roads.”
These included hand-held devices which enabled officials to have direct roadside access to verify the validity of driving and motor vehicle licences, professional driving permits and speeding offences at all Average Speed Over Distance sites across the province, with 490 provincial traffic officers and 40 trainee traffic officer students trained in the use of these devices.
He said there were also new vehicles fitted with automatic number plate recognition software dash-cams, Average Speed Over Distance camera enforcement technology “which now covers over 450kms of the province’s busiest roads”.
In addition, they had technological advancements to monitor drivers as part of the Fatigue Management Awareness Programme targeted at drivers travelling long distances, and three Mobile Alcohol Evidentiary Units deployed at strategic locations across the province “to aid our successful random breath testing operations”.
Payne said about R1.1million was spent on raising awareness during December and January, “particularly on our smart enforcement technologies, with an additional R450000 spent on ongoing social media campaigns as part of the Safely Home Calendar which we run all year”.
Payne said the campaign focussed on addressing drinking and driving “as well as drinking and walking on our roads”.