‘It begins with me’ – Easter safety drive launched
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has launched this year’s Easter road safety campaign, which will run until May.
Creecy, alongside stakeholders from the transport industry, such as South African National Taxi Council, the Road Freight Association, as well as the Liquor Traders Association, addressed media in Pretoria ahead of the Human Rights public holiday on Friday.
Last year, more than 300 people lost their lives over the Easter period.
Creecy lamented human behaviour as the biggest contributor to crashes and pedestrian deaths.
“Our theme for this campaign is: ‘It begins with me’. We chose this theme because driver and pedestrian behaviour is responsible for 87% of road accidents, fatalities, and injuries in our country. So, reducing road accidents, fatalities, and injuries is the responsibility of each and every one of us.”
She said government was taking a tough stance against those who traffic laws in a bid to curb fatalities on the country’s roads.
Over 20,000 drivers were issued fines for speeding.
“More than 3,000 drivers have been arrested for drunk driving in January and February, and 12,000 unroadworthy or unregistered vehicles have been removed from our roads,” the minister said.
“The consequence of these actions, is that we saw a 10% month-on-month decline in accidents in January 2025 compared to January 2024.”
FOCUS ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Creecy said, following a meeting with leaders in the bus industry, measures were put in place to decrease bus accidents.
This follows a series of bus crashes in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Limpopo in recent weeks.
READ: Another bus crash in Ekurhuleni
“For the next six weeks, we’re going to work together to undertake the following actions. First of all, following a meeting with the bus industry on the 17th of March, we’re going to be working with the industry to check vehicle roadworthiness and also to educate drivers on issues of fatigue and road safety ahead of the Easter weekend.”
She said similar campaigns to inspect minibus taxies would be conducted at taxi ranks across the country.
Creecy warned that road safety should not be confined to the festive season and the Easter period.
Working together with key stakeholders in the industry, Creecy said there would be common programs and messaging running throughout the year.
Additional policing will be deployed to critical routes were most pilgrims are expected to be travelling in high volumes to their various religious destinations. These include the N4, R71, Libode on the N2, Umtata’s R61, R54, N3, N2, N4 from Middelburg to Gauteng and the R66 in KwaZulu-Natal.
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