Young people seek solutions to address carnage on our roads

Statement by Donald Grant, Minister of Transport and Public Works

Good morning, Goeie more, Molweni

It is an honour to address you all today (4 June 2016) during a month that has come to celebrate young people and their contribution to building this great nation of ours. This gathering is, however, also significant for what you as our youth are addressing at this summit: the important cause of road safety.

The gathering that has occurred over the last two days is in keeping with the importance we, as road safety practitioners, place on actively engaging the youth in all issues relating to road safety. The need to do so was also recognised at the second National Road Safety Summit last year. The national summit resolved to hold provincial youth road safety summits in 2016, all of which are due to culminate in a national youth road safety summit.

The main objectives of the Western Cape Youth Road Safety Summit are:

• to give young people a voice on road safety,
• to contribute to a positive shift in attitudes towards road safety and behaviour among young people,
• to encourage and support the emergence of young road safety leaders, and
• to launch the "Youth Declaration for Road Safety", a document describing the views of young people on what they, their parents, teachers, government leaders and others can do to improve road safety.

This type of engagement is further necessitated by the affects that the carnage on our roads continues to have on young people. We know that South Africa has one of the higher  per capita alcohol consumption rates in the world, with over 30% of the population said to be struggling with an alcohol problem or on the verge of having one. Alcohol has managed to creep into many aspects of ordinary South African life, and very often with the most disastrous of outcomes. Some of the truly devastating results of excessive alcohol consumption can be found on our roads, which have become a daily scene of horror and death. You need only look at the country’s road crash statistics, of which alcohol is a leading cause, for an idea of the impact that alcohol abuse has on all South Africans. Even if you do not drive under the influence of alcohol, the chances that you are sharing the road with someone who is drunk are extremely high.

These are the realities that we experience on our roads, with young people amongst the most affected. Road crashes now account for millions of deaths around the world annually, with the World Health Organization identifying road deaths as the leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 29 years of age; these are disturbing statistics, and the focus of a large part of the work that the Western Cape Government does in this regard, through our Safely Home programme in the Department of Transport and Public Works, to make our roads safer for all those that use them.

The Horrific Facts about the effects of alcohol on road safety:

• Although the frequency of drinking and driving varies between countries, it is very high in South Africa and almost universally accepted as being a major risk factor for road crashes.
• Studies in low-income countries have shown alcohol to be present in between 33% and 69% of all fatally injured drivers.
• Drivers who have been drinking are at a higher risk of being involved in crashes than those that have no alcohol in their system, with the risk increasing rapidly with increasing blood alcohol content.
• Alcohol impaired drivers are 17 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than unimpaired drivers.
• More disturbing is that inexperienced young drivers driving over the limit are 2.5 times more likely to be involved in a crash than more experienced drivers.

It is certainly appropriate that you are all here today to help address this situation.

All road safety experts agree that in order to tackle drink driving that leads to death on our roads effectively , we must:

• Have appropriate blood alcohol limits that are effectively enforced so as to deter would be offenders.
• Heighten awareness to the dangers of drinking and driving, and the increased chances of death on our roads.

We must also address the serious contributory factors of speed, distracted driving, and the high number of pedestrians (46%) killed on our roads annually, most of which having being found to have alcohol in their system at the time of their death. Alcohol and the roads simply do not mix.

We know that the battle on our roads can only be won through effective engagements like this one, as well as partnerships by government with groups that share the same values and levels of commitment to reducing the carnage on our roads. Winning this battle, in ways that countries leading in road safety, like Australia, have been able to, will be the legacy that we will leave for generations to come. The burden that road crashes place on state resources, as well as the human costs, are astronomical. We must prioritize a drastic behavioural change amongst road users, and not allow this situation to continue unabated.

The theme of this year’s summit is #BeingSafeIsCool, which rings even more true in the context of road safety. I expect that this gathering and the many that will follow will bring us closer to winning the war against the carnage on our roads. I hope that we will continue to share ideas and unite behind the common goal of making our roads safer.

I wish to thank you all for your participation and wish you a successful and life-saving summit. We look forward to receiving, reading, and incorporating your ideas into our road safety policies and practices.

I thank you.