'Road safety like safe sex'

2008-06-30 13:41

Aubrey Sambo

White River - Road safety should be given as much priority as HIV/Aids campaigns, according to delegates who attended a two-day National Road Safety Youth Convention in White River, Mpumalanga.

Statistics from the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) indicate that more than 40% of people who die in road accidents around the world are youth, said Mpumalanga Roads and Transport spokesperson Vukani Mnyandu.

"This is why we must develop an initiative to empower the youth with safety precautions," he said.

Mnyandu said the GRSP is based in Switzerland and is in partnership with business, civil society and governmental organisations around the world to improve road safety conditions.

The GRSP was initiated by the World Bank Group in February 1999 and was launched in South Africa in 2000 to support the National Department of Roads and Transport's road safety strategy.

Road safety as a subject in schools

The convention last week invited youth from across the country to make inputs on the country's approach to road safety.

It was the second convention to be held, after the first one in June last year at the Centre for Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria.

Mnyandu said it was resolved that road safety be introduced as a subject in the school curriculum at primary schools and that road safety awareness campaigns be run in the media.

The resolutions will be submitted to national Transport Minister Jeff Radebe.

In the 12 months from March 2007 to March 2008, the number of fatal accidents on Mpumalanga's roads increased by 9.29% from 1 119 to 1 223.

In Limpopo, there was only a 0.1% in fatal crashes from 1 028 to 1 029.

- African Eye