New West Coast (South) District Safety Plan to address road safety harms

An integrated enforcement, education and engineering road safety plan for the southern part of the West Coast District was launched on Friday 26 October 2018 in Morreesburg by the Minister of Transport and Public Works Donald Grant, and the mayors of the West Coast, Swartland, Saldanha and Berg River municipalities.

The West Coast (South) District Safety Plan (DSP) was drafted by the Department of Transport and Public Works (DTPW) in response to a detailed evaluation of the strategic and operational environment. The new plan integrated lessons learned from the Overberg District DSP pilot project that has steadily improved road safety since it was first implemented in that region two years ago.

The vision informing the DSPs in the Western Cape is: “zero fatalities and zero serious injuries on provincial roads”. DSPs aim to do this by bringing together all the elements that can contribute to road safety into a single coherent and integrated plan that responds to the actual needs on the ground. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation is built into the implementation plan so that lessons from experience can inform the development of similar plans for the other districts of the province.

On the day of the launch, Provincial Traffic Services and their municipal counterparts conducted an integrated roadblock. DTPW road safety officers also engaged in pedestrian safety awareness activities.