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The Minister of Transport
The Mayor of Johannesburg
Distinguished guests,
Members of the media;
Ladies and gentlemen;

We are gathered here today to celebrate a very important milestone in road safety - the launch of a comprehensive blueprint for tackling the problem at its roots - The Road to Safety, 2001-2005.

As my colleague, the Minister of Transport, says, the strategy builds on the successes achieved by the Arrive Alive campaign. Most of you will know that since the start of Arrive Alive in October 1997, road deaths have declined by an average of 7.5% year on year. This has been a very encouraging development.

We are therefore gathered here to celebrate our achievement, and in addition, to call for partnerships between government and all South Africans, to work together in all sorts of new and creative partnerships to make our roads safer for all users.

Ladies and gentlemen, I must, also express our shock and sadness at the death of thirteen church worshippers yesterday, who lost their lives when the taxi they were travelling in reportedly hit a trailer, which had been left in the middle of the road, in Mooi River in the North West Province. We extend our condolences to the families of the bereaved and wish those in hospital a speedy recovery.

This incident is a reminder that a huge task still remains with regards to road safety. More than 9 000 people still die on our roads every year and many others are injured. These deaths usually occur during peak holiday periods such as the festive season and Easter holidays.

The cost to our economy is in the order of fourteen billion rand a year. But we have a platform to build on. And I am glad we are having this launch shortly before we break for the Christmas holidays, as it will serve to mobilise us all regarding our responsibilities on the roads.

The statistics from Arrive Alive clearly show that we have started to get the focus right in the key areas of enforcement, coordination, communication and partnership. But we also need to work even harder to ensure compliance with the law.

The challenge we face is one of ensuring that people comply with road safety laws not because of the penalties, but because they know it is correct to do so. We therefore want to accelerate the campaign to achieve a culture of zero tolerance for traffic offences.

We must change mindsets. We must get to the point where what is today seen by many as acceptable transgression, turns to be viewed as unacceptable, unpardonable and completely anti-social. In the beginning this will require developing the enforcement capacity that can increasingly make zero tolerance a reality.

It is a well-known fact that thousands of people habitually break the speed limit, drive recklessly and aggressively, drink and drive, deliberately overload trucks, buses or taxis, pay for a forged driving licence, try to bribe traffic officers or pay for a false roadworthy certificate. All these acts are crimes, and as Government, we are determined to crack down hard on offenders and impose sentences that match the seriousness of these crimes.

People must come to know that they stand a high chance of being pulled over, not just for speeding or suspected drunken driving, but for any kind of negligent behaviour on the road. They must know that when they are pulled over they can expect a thorough check of their documentation and the condition of their vehicle.

They must know that prosecution will follow transgression; that repeat offending will lose them their licences; that imprisonment is a real prospect for serious offences; that fines will be punitive and will be collected.

For all this to happen, many different systems have to lock together. The Arrive Alive programme is the visible face of enforcement and communication, the interface between government and the public on our roads. Beneath the surface lies a whole range of regulatory institutions, administrative systems and structured relations with transport stakeholders. This is the area in which Arrive Alive needs support. And this is exactly the area that The Road to Safety focuses on.

National, provincial and local transport authorities face a tremendous challenge in carrying out their critical roles in this process. In this context, I am pleased to announce that the President will issue a Proclamation to bring the Road Traffic Management Corporation into effect on 14 December.

I am told by Minister Omar that the first Shareholders' Meeting of the new Corporation was held yesterday, within the framework of the Transport Minmec - and that a CEO and his or her core team will be in place by 14 March 2002.

As you know, the establishment of this agency will create a mechanism for the pooling of traffic policing resources nation-wide and the development of co-ordinated operational planning, traffic management and data gathering systems.

It will professionalise traffic officer training and career development and create skilled specialist units in key areas of enforcement. And it will have the operational flexibility to enter into partnerships with the private sector to supply critical expertise in areas where government capacity is lacking.

The Minister of Transport has already outlined for you some of the flagship components of the Road to Safety strategy that are already being rolled out or will start coming into effect within the next six months or so.

Colleagues from the Department of Transport will later give a presentation on how the whole strategy fits together and set its priorities for the short, medium and long term.

I will not trespass on their areas of expertise or on your patience. Instead let me end by congratulating the Minister, the MECs and the national and provincial Departments of Transport on the enormous amount of work that they have together put into the development and consultation processes that have given birth to The Road to Safety.

I know that the strategy enjoys very widespread support across the whole of the transport sector. The challenge now is to make it part of the everyday consciousness of all South Africans.

I said earlier that to move towards a zero tolerance culture on South Africa's roads has to start out from the certainty of effective enforcement.

But this is only the beginning of the process. People must start to believe that positive change can happen, is happening and that they can be part of the process.

This means a situation where individual drivers begin to take responsibility for their driving and their vehicles, and where all sectors begin to play their part in this campaign. This would include the following:

* Communities taking charge of safety on their own doorsteps.
* Operators taking responsibility for active self-regulation.
* Businesses partnering with government in safety campaigns and infrastructure upgrades.
* Empowered passengers in public transport refusing to accept second-rate safety and service.
* Members of the public using complaint hotlines to report reckless driving or fraud and corruption.
* It means educated and mobilised school children who will make their parents' life a misery if they don't buckle up or if they break the rules of the road.

South Africa belongs to all of us. Our roads belong to all of us. From today we have the possibility of working together in all sorts of new and creative partnerships to ensure that over time, these roads become places of safety and that travel becomes less of an anxiety and more of a pleasure.

I wish you all the very best of success in the rollout of The Road to Safety strategy. May you have a safe, peaceful and prosperous festive season and please, Arrive Alive.

I thank you.

Enquiries: Ms Lakela Kaunda, Cell: 082 782 2575

issued by The Presidency, 20 November 2001