ARRIVE ALIVE - A CLOSER LOOK

CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS IN ROAD CRASHES

The main contributory factors in accidents (traffic offences) are targeted through intensified traffic law-enforcement and communication/awareness programmes. International experience has shown that driver behaviour changes only when communication and law enforcement are used together

The main offences in South Africa are:

• speed
• drinking and driving (alcohol)
• vehicle and driver fitness

(driving licences, tyres, lights, brakes, etc)

Additionally:

• during ARRIVE ALIVE phase 1 (October 1997 to January 1998) seatbelts were regarded as important over the holiday period;
• during ARRIVE ALIVE phase 2 (February 1998 to April 1998) driver fatigue was also addressed as an important factor over the Easter holiday period when people travel long distances over a short time-period;
• in phase 3, October 1998 has been designated Pedestrian Month and pedestrian safety will be particularly highlighted over this month in order to increase public awareness of the astonishingly high number of pedestrians who die on our roads each year (3800 or 40% of all fatalities).

THE BIG KILLERS - SPEED AND ALCOHOL

However, our core target remains the two major killers - speed and alcohol.

The combination of these two factors takes its toll particularly over weekends, when the lethal speed/alcohol cocktail accounts for more than 60 % of the weekly total of crashes.

Speed on its own plays a contributory role in 75 % of all the crashes on our roads.

BUDGET ALLOCATION

The main participants in ARRIVE ALIVE are the traffic police and safety personnel of provincial and local traffic authorities, approximately 7 000 people in all, of whom 98 % are traffic officers. One of the serious factors currently militating against comprehensive traffic law enforcement is the fact that the traffic police officer's normal working week runs from 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday, while our statistics clearly show that 65 % of crashes happen at night over weekends. This is why overtime payments account for more than 17 % of ARRIVE ALIVE's budget.

The table below sets out how the campaign has used its financial resources over each of its phases (in R millions):

Funds for law-enforcement equipment during Arrive Alive 1 were used as follows:

For the current phase of the campaign (ARRIVE ALIVE 3) click to see a Summary of the overall budget or a breakdown of the allocations to Provinces.

To date, 589 alcohol screening devices and 125 evidentiary devices (i.e. breathalysers calibrated to a level of accuracy acceptable as evidence by the courts) have been were purchase. The allocation per province is as follows:

ENFORCEMENT

During Arrive Alive Phase 1 the percentage breakdown of notices (tickets) issued for road traffic offences was as follows:

The total number of notices issued was 1,471 million.

During Arrive Alive Phase 2 a total of 525 000 notices was issued, with the major categories being:

POSITIVE RESULTS

• ARRIVE ALIVE 1 brought down the number of crashes by 7,7% (3% fewer than our prediction) and fatalities by 9,3% (in real terms saving 279 lives - 12,6% better than predicted).
• The cost-benefit ratio was 4:1 in term of last year's budget of R50 million, most of which came from the Road Accident Fund. (The RAF sees ARRIVE ALIVE as an investment in the future as its own movement towards stability will depend substantially on our success rate in reducing the numbers of people dying or being injured in crashes on our roads).
• Perhaps the most significant achievement of ARRIVE ALIVE to date has been the extent to which it has been able to get traffic police across the country working as one force on the roads.

THE FUTURE

However, in the long-term, the problem of road safety requires fundamental changes in the organisation and operation of the whole road traffic management system.

We are already in the process of addressing these issues on two main fronts. Firstly, we have proposed the formation of a Road Traffic Management Corporation which will bring the approximately 7,000 traffic officers currently employed by more than 500 different authorities under one organisation. The feasibility studies we have done have shown that it is not only necessary but financially viable. It will take more than 18 months to implement as it requires agreement from all three levels of government.

The other lesson we learned from Arrive Alive 1 was that our judicial system cannot cope with the current volume of traffic offenders and therefore many people go unpunished. We know we will never change the culture of lawlessness on our roads until offenders are consistently and effectively punished, and - even more importantly, from the prevention point of view - that they know they will be punished for each and every offence.

Parliament passed the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (no. 46 of 1998) in September 1998, paving the way for a more efficient system of collecting traffic fines and also instituting a points demerit system - linked to the new CCF Licence - which will over time enable us to identify habitual offenders and ensure that they are removed from our roads. These new measures will be fully operational by the end of 1999.

But in the short term we cannot allow the carnage to continue on our roads. That is why we have devised ARRIVE ALIVE as a campaign that continues to target the main offences.

Road safety is the responsibility of all responsible citizens, and we need your active support as road users, friendly persuaders, parents or educators.