The provincial transport and traffic authorities will ensure that provincial-local authority consultative structures in all nine provinces, similar to the MINCOM/COLTO (Committee of Land Transportation Officials) structure between national and provincial levels, are established and functioning.

A Road Traffic Safety Board (RTSB) comprising Government Ministers and senior figures in the transport industry and business was established to endorse the Strategy and act as its guardian. Its continuing watchdog role will include:

The first meeting of the RTSB was held on Friday, 31 January 1997.

Policy for road traffic control and policing at all levels of government will be the ongoing responsibility of the National Minister of Transport and the provincial MECs for Road Transport and Traffic.

The National Department of Transport and the Traffic Control Co-ordinating Committee (TCCC) of COLTO will jointly ensure adherence to recommendations made by the Joint Task Group of Traffic and Police Service Officials. (These mainly concern issues such as ranks, insignia, remuneration, danger-allowances, accountability to the community, etc.)

The National Department - in consultation with the provincial departments for Transport and Traffic – will be responsible for preparing legislation to expand the responsibilities of traffic officers and to declare traffic control and policing as an emergency service.

Co-ordination and harmonisation of country-wide traffic control and policing will be facilitated by the national Department of Transport in consultation with and support of the relevant TCCC.

A clear need for a human resource development strategy for the Traffic Control function has been identified. The National Department will attend to this need by establishing a Traffic and Transport Personnel Training Board (TTPTB) or Sector Learning Organisation (SLO). The necessary preparatory work will be carried out in consultation with the Technical Committee for Training and Development (TCTD) of the TCCC. The new Training Board will be responsible for co-ordinating and standardising training within the profession in line with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).

The Department and the TCTD will also:

The national Department of Transport - in consultation with the TCCC and with the co-operation of provincial/local authority consultative structures - will carry out an audit of traffic control/policing systems and models currently in use by all provincial and local traffic authorities.

During 1997, the TCCC will facilitate the implementation of the Traffic Control Management Model (TRAFMAN) in all nine provincial authorities and approximately twenty major metropolitan authorities. The national Department of Transport will underwrite and manage the implementation process.

Within the strategic framework of the Critical Offences Management Programme (discussed under point 16 below) provinces and local traffic authorities will introduce regular roadblocks to monitor and control vehicle and driver fitness. These will be undertaken with the assistance of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) under the management of the TCCC. Conveniently located traffic courts at as many of these road-blocks as possible will be provided by the Department of Justice.

On the basis of results obtained from TRAFMAN in the various provincial and local traffic authorities, the Road Traffic Management Co-ordinating Committee and the Traffic Centre Co-ordinating Committee will jointly develop a calendar for intensified, country-wide, highly visible traffic law-enforcement actions. These will be specially concentrated at hazardous locations and aimed at critical offences during mutually agreed periods.

The TCCC will submit a report on the feasibility and cost-benefit of introducing SOS Highway Patrols to provide an extended service on high traffic volume routes. The report would also look at the possibility of including follow-up driver education in the service.

Gautrans will consult with all the relevant authorities in Gauteng to prepare a joint report on a pilot project linking SOS Highway Patrols with the establishment of a central Traffic Operations Monitoring and Control Centre (TOMCC) for the province as a whole.

The TCCC will also submit a report on the feasibility of establishing additional TOMCCs in metropolitan areas.

The RTMCC and the TCCC have agreed to ensure that the operational schedule for all Traffic Control Centres is strictly adhered to and that reporting back becomes an integral part of general vehicle and driver fitness control operations. The provinces, together with their metropolitan and local authorities, are individually responsible for the development and scheduling of operations at TCCs (or weighing stations) under control of local authorities.

The Incident Management Systems Technical Committee of the Road Traffic Management Co-ordinating Committee (RTMCC) will ensure the development of a systems approach to incident management and will oversee the completion of an Incident Management Systems Guideline Document.

The RTMCC and the national Department of Transport will then work together with provincial and local authorities and emergency services to make sure that programmes are prepared to manage the implementation process in each province.

The RTMCC, TCCC and the Roads Co-ordinating Committee (RCC) will jointly co-ordinate the identification, sign-posting and patrolling of dangerous goods transport routes through metropolitan and urban areas.

The RTMCC and TCCC will also co-ordinate government department liaison with industry players, including the South African Towing and Recovery Industry Board, to develop a code of practice for the orderly operation of tow-in services on the road and street network. Consideration will be given to the possibility of inviting tenders to operate tow-in services on particular sections of road.

The Department of Transport will establish a Joint Committee with the Department of Justice whose major aims will be to:

The national Department of Transport will ensure that appropriate technical research is conducted on the safety and accuracy of the various forms of modern, time-saving traffic law-enforcement equipment currently available on the market. It will then feed the results back to the Joint Committee with the Department of Justice as a first step towards establishing the acceptability of their readings as evidence. The main devices to be examined will be the breath-alcohol meter, the VASCAR speed-measurement device and static and dynamic weighbridges.

It is the responsibility of the provincial authorities to ensure that the provincial road traffic legislation is enacted.

However, the national Department of Transport will be responsible for aver-arching road traffic legislation to provide for:

In addition:

The national Department of Transport and the Joint User Group will ensure that the roll-out of the NaTIS is completed and that the system is fully operational in all the provinces by the end of 1998.

The Department is also considering the possibility of introducing a three-phase driving licence: learners; probationary (possibly for a period of 5 years); and final. Other related issues include the integration of these different phases into the points demerit scoring system and the possibility of applying a zero blood alcohol content level in the learners and probationary phases.

The national Department of Transport will take overall responsibility for the maintenance of appropriate vehicle standards, in line with changes in road traffic legislation. It will carry out this function in conjunction with the National Inspectorate of Vehicle Testing Stations, a joint body of SABS officials and Provincial Inspectors.

Serious consideration will also be given to the introduction of more frequent compulsory testing of all vehicles - possibly every 3 or 4 years - and the issuing of Certificates of Fitness as proof of compliance. In order to cope with the logistics of this new regime, we will examine the possible expansion of existing vehicle testing facilities to include appropriately certificated service stations.

The Department of Transport will enter into negotiations with the Department of Education as soon as possible with a view to introducing the STEP, Scholar Patrol, Child in Traffic and Bridge traffic safety programmes in schools.

The Department will also take ongoing responsibility for national mass media campaigns (TV, radio, press and PR) to run alongside stepped-up law enforcement action programmes targeting critical offences.

It falls to the appropriate technical committees of the RTMCC and the TCCC jointly to investigate, prepare and launch community-based road traffic quality and safety improvement projects. Various roadside communication measures have already been or are soon to be implemented, including: signs indicating minimum/maximum fines for various offences; speeding, alcohol and seat belt campaign compliance rates; the display of car wrecks at strategic points; roadside billboards; filling station safety messages; signage of accident red-spots and so on.

Information on accident statistics, road conditions and road works, country-wide traffic law-enforcement actions, offence rates, etc. will be regularly collected from provincial and local authorities by the national Department and disseminated to the media and other users in the form of press releases, brochures and flyers.

The RTMCC will oversee the review of the K53 Driver Training Manual and make any minor modifications required in the light of its ongoing use by training centres country-wide. Computerised testing of learner drivers is also under consideration.

The provincial authorities will complete the establishment of Provincial Training Inspectorates, after which working procedures and programmes will jointly be finalised for implementation by the national and provincial Inspectorates.

In response to the high pedestrian accident rate on our roads, the RTMCC will take responsibility for preparing programmes and training manuals on safe usage of the transport infrastructure by adult pedestrians, in both urban and rural contexts.

It will also co-ordinate the provision of specialised training programmes and visual materials for use by community health care workers of the Department of Health, in order to take advantage of the hospital and clinic environment to focus patients’ and visitors’ minds on the importance of safe road usage.

The Roads Co-ordinating Committee (RCC) will undertake an audit of best practice in road operations management systems, whether already in existence or still under development, and will examine all of them in detail in order to identify areas of congruence and overlap/duplication.

Based on the results of the above audit, implementation will go ahead on at least the following management systems at all levels of government:

The RCC will also promote the implementation of Comprehensive Traffic Observation Systems (CTOs) at strategic locations on the road and street network, which will have us one of their major aims the monitoring of overloaded goods vehicles.

Finally, the RTMCC will develop a Traffic Operations Management System (TOMS) which will include road safety audits, and will distribute it at national, provincial and local authority levels.

In order to obtain the highest possible level of road traffic quality and safety an integrated and multi-faceted project, the Critical Offences Management Programme (COMP) will be launched.

The RTMCC and TCCC will jointly manage this project, which will focus on public motivation. It will form an integral part of road-blocks and SOS Highway Patrols and will, amongst other things, be directed towards on-the-road training and communication to obtain road users participation in safer road usage, eventually effecting lasting change in behaviour and attitudes.

A joint technical committee of the RTMCC and the TCCC will undertake the planning of this project, which will include the following steps:

The RCC, RTMCC and the TCCC are jointly responsible for identifying and prioritising research projects for consideration and approval by COLTO. The main thrust will be to critically analyse current approaches, systems, procedures and actions in order to evaluate their congruence with the broad tasks and projects identified in the Departmental Business Plan.

More concretely, the Department will launch the following specific research projects and traffic safety audits as soon as possible:

At a lower and more immediate level the national Department has undertaken to revise and update the document Setting of Speed Limits as soon as possible.

COLTO and the Road Transport and Traffic authorities at all levels of government will continuously investigate additional and innovative sources of funds to be used for traffic quality and safety improvement projects.

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has undertaken to contribute funding, on a percentage basis, dedicated to projects related to the improvement of traffic quality and safety, provided that these are used for cost-effective projects which will have a significant impact on the accident rate.

A new Technical Committee will be created under the RTMCC to work in conjunction with the national Department on the development of a computerised Road Traffic Management Performance Monitoring System (RTMPMS). The system will then be implemented at the appropriate levels of government in order to produce reports, with key performance indicators, reflecting overall progress in the implementation of the various elements of the road traffic quality and safety strategy.