Road safety agencies such as the Provincial Traffic Services of the Department of Transport and Public Works, among others, will be taking to Western Cape roads this festive season to ensure the security of all.
Integrated traffic law enforcement plans will kick off around the province at a number of regional launch events for the season ahead.
Provincial Traffic Services will continue to work closely with the police, municipal traffic services and other road safety agencies this holiday season to make Cape roads safer for both residents and visitors. The plans include ongoing random breath testing (RBT) and alcohol blitz operations, with the aim of strengthening the #BoozeFreeRoads efforts on provincial roads.
Dates for the launches are as below:
Additional resources have been dedicated towards effective monitoring and control of traffic volumes, as well as towards measures for maintaining the rule of law on the roads.
In the future, through effective partnerships and plans, the traffic department and its officials aim to see a drastic reduction in the number of people being injured or killed on the roads.
In order to achieve this, they will be conducting integrated traffic and road safety initiatives that respond directly to the current dire situation on Western Cape roads, with focus on the following key areas:
– driver fatigue
– driver and vehicle fitness
– excessive speed and Average Speed Over Distance (ASOD)
– driving under the influence of alcohol and other intoxicating substances and Random Breath Testing (RBT)
– distracted driving
– moving violations
– pedestrian safety (with pedestrian deaths accounting for the majority of all road deaths)
– seat belt compliance.
Just last year alone, a total of 262 lives were lost on Cape roads over the festive season (December 1 2017 till January 31 2018), an increase in deaths from the previous season as both driver and passenger fatality numbers went up.
Road safety initiatives will focus strongly on avoiding drinking and driving/walking and its many dangers; over 40% of drivers killed on Western Cape roads who were tested for alcohol were blood alcohol content (BAC) positive and approximately 372 pedestrians were killed while under the influence of alcohol on Western Cape roads last year.
Two new Mobile Alcohol Evidentiary Units will be deployed in the Western Cape to help reduce fatality and injury numbers this year. The two units will be deployed in the West Coast and Winelands regions, and will complement the existing two units in the Overberg and Metro regions.
Picture: Western Cape Government
