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Minister Robin Carlisle and Safely Home Release Latest Crash Witness Videos / 5 September 2012

STATEMENT BY MINISTER ROBIN CARLISLE

I am very pleased to be able to present the latest release of Crash Witness videos to you today.

The last two Crash Witness releases got a combined total of 400 000 views online, an incredible achievement for the first ever viral marketing campaign by a branch of the South African government.

The hundreds of comments we received about Crash Witness have helped shape road safety policy, including recent proposals for new provincial regulations regarding child safety, speed limits and scholar transport.

The videos were mostly of fatal crashes, showing the real effects on our roads of speed, drink driving, not wearing seat belts, and irresponsible road use by pedestrians.

The videos come from CCTV cameras located across the province and are not for sensitive viewers, or viewers under the age of 18. They can be accessed on Safely Home’s website, www.safelyhome.westerncape.gov.za

Today, we would like to shift the focus onto pedestrians in particular.

Safely Home was started in 2009, when the death rate on the Province’s roads was at its high watermark, 1 739 killed in 2008. Since then, the death toll has dropped 29.2%, all the way down to 1 231 over the last 12 months.

As we have achieved this unprecedented success rate, we have seen a change in the profile of those who are being killed.

When we started, 40% of the dead were pedestrians. Nowadays, 50% of those killed on our roads are pedestrians.

 

Year Total

Pedestrian Total

%

2008

1 739

803

46%

2009

1 567

639

41%

2010

1 476

624

42%

2011

1 321

642

49%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What this means is that we are reaching drivers and their passengers, and seeing a change in behaviour. But we are not reaching pedestrians.

A huge aspect of the problem is that pedestrians who are killed on the road are from poorer communities, where education levels are lower, and where access to transport is limited.

I would like to mention Brad Schaffer, the founder of Co-Op TV, our production partner for Crash Witness. Brad is one the Province’s many committed citizens who have taken our call to make the roads better together seriously, and has given up many hours of his professional time at no charge to produce the videos already released, and those we are about to see. His Co-Op TV project is a great example of innovation and I would like to ask Brad to very briefly tell you what Co-Op TV is about.

Professor Alastair Millar, from the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, is one of our dedicated partners. He notes the dangers that children face as pedestrians and attributes their vulnerability to factors such as maturity. Their alertness on the road is often limited by their “tunnel vision”. In 2011, the Red Cross children’s Hospital admitted 752 trauma patients who were injured in motor vehicle crashes as pedestrians. 573 children are killed each year on South Africa’s roads as pedestrians. These are alarming figures that cannot be ignored.

Finally, in light of the difficulties of reaching pedestrians, what I want to ask each and every one of you, particularly you members of the media whose reach is into our poorer communities who are affected most badly by this scourge, is to help us spread the message. If you can get these three things across to your readers, viewers or listeners, you will be saving lives:

  • Drinking before walking on any high speed road is incredibly dangerous.
  • Walking on or crossing highways is not only extremely dangerous, it is also illegal – pedestrians are not allowed on these roads for a reason. Please use footbridges and where inadequate provision is made for pedestrians to safely cross major roads, approach your local councillor or even contact the Ministry directly.
  • Parents need to ensure their children are not using major roads on foot unsupervised. You will see the horrific results today.

We are working on the drivers, as you know. We’ve even taken the unpopular step of breaching the debate on speed limit reductions, which has the potential to vastly reduce pedestrian fatalities. But we need you to help us make the roads better together for pedestrians, by reaching out to your local communities through the power of media.

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