Transport and Public Works

[1]  As part of the initiation of the Safely Home programme in 2009, the Department commissioned a wide-ranging study into the causes of road traffic injury in the Western Cape. This study was published as the Safely Home Baseline Study, by  Vanderschuuren, M and Jobanputra, R (2010). The study acknowledges the extreme difficulties of establishing causality with certainty in an environment where most key information is not available, and also that crashes are rarely the result of one single causal element. However, five strategic focus areas were identified. These are: alcohol impairment, especially of drivers, but also of pedestrians; speed, including speeding and inappropriate speed and speed limits; distracted driving, especially the use of cell phones and specifically texting, instant messaging and social media; seatbelt compliance; and pedestrian and other vulnerable road user safety issues. Subsequent ongoing analysis of the available evidence repeatedly confirms that these remain the key strategic issues.
[a]  In line with international best practice, international treaties, the National Development Plan, more recently the National Road Safety Strategy, the Provincial Strategic Plan, and the Departmental Strategic Plan, the Department has developed a strategic platform for addressing the economic and social burden of road traffic crashes. This platform is designed to enable the Transport Management Branch to achieve its vision of zero fatalities on Western Cape roads, and consists of five pillars, being:

• • • A legislative framework which prioritises the safety of human beings. In addition to active participation in national and municipal legislative processes, the Department is in the process of critical reforms to the Provincial Road Traffic Act which will complement national legislation and greatly enhance the ability of law enforcement to remove immediate threats from the road environment through impounding private vehicles. The Provincial Land Transport Act is in draft, and will greatly improve the ability of authorities to implement and sustain the safe and efficient public transport networks needed to serve Western Cape communities.
    • National, provincial, district and departmental structures to implement the road safety strategic platform. This encompasses management of and /or support to National, Provincial and District Road Traffic Management Co-ordinating Committees (RTMCCs), and their substructures, as well as the Traffic Chiefs Forum. The branch structures at the heart of the strategy include the Traffic Management, Transport Administration and Transport Operations Chief Directorates. Examples of strengthening these structures include the filling of traffic officer posts, Organization Development process and pending reform of the Provincial RTMCC.
    • The primacy of evidence-based planning, and the development of a centralised business and management information system, or data hub. Systems being integrated currently include the WCG BizBrain system, public transport data systems, traffic law enforcement tracking systems and data from the Average Speed over Distance camera network.
    • The development of localised District Safety Plans [DSPs] at traffic centre level or lower, in order to give effect to evidence-based integrated planning at the coal-face. DSPs integrate Enforcement, Education and Engineering interventions across all three spheres of government, with clearly defined targets and a clear, consistent monitoring system.
    • The vastly expanded use of communication, especially via mass media, to achieve critically needed mass behaviour change. The Safely Home Calendar has been introduced as a sustained evidence-based mass communication campaign. This campaign is designed around the 2010 baseline study, and is refined annually based on traffic injury data and data collected via the annual Safely Home Survey, which analyses road user perceptions and attitudes.

[b]  There are 495 traffic officers dedicated to patrol our roads. The actual number of traffic officers patrolling on any given day will differ depending on how many officers are on leave, training etc. A further 45 traffic officer posts are in recruitment and 27 traffic officers are being trained at Gene Louw Traffic College

[c]  The Department co-operates with all elements of society in its efforts to bring about its vision of zero fatalities on Western Cape roads.

• • • Within government, the Department co-ordinates its efforts with all three spheres across a wide range of functional stakeholders.
      • On a daily basis, close co-operation with the SAPS and municipal traffic and law enforcement is required. Levels of co-operation and integration of effort are uneven, however. Examples of common issues raised are non-participation by SAPS at co-ordination structure sittings, and lack of municipal law enforcement participation in weekend and night-time activities, the latter partly a consequence of lack of a resources, as well as labour practices which prevent deployment at these critical times. Nevertheless, strong collaboration is the norm, especially where relationships are formalised into structured, properly monitored plans.
      • Collaboration with Sanral and local road authorities by the department is a necessity for the management of the Province’s major route network, and is exemplified by the participation of the department’s law enforcement, education and infrastructure officials within structures like the Freeway Management System, and the Road Incident Management System. The Department also provides direct assistance to local road authorities through the District Roads Engineer network.
      • Road safety practitioners working to educate schoolchildren and the broader public collaborate on a regular basis with municipal counterparts, including law enforcement. The Safely Home Calendar overtly integrates provincial and local authorities, together with SAPS, into messaging from all services, often integrating funding from the Road Traffic Management Corporation. For example the same radio campaign will feature messaging from a SAPS brigadier, Provincial Traffic Chief, City of Cape Town Traffic Chiefs and multiple local authority Traffic Chiefs.
      • One of the Department’s key strategic relationships within WCG exists with the Department of Health [DOH], on whom much of the economic and social burden of traffic injury falls. DOH not only provides the Emergency Medical Services who play a critical role in the Golden Hour after a crash, but also provides the Forensic Pathology and EMS response data which is the lifeblood of evidence-based planning. The Department has very important relationships with all the social sector departments through its participation in Provincial Strategic Goal 3. For example, the Department has linked the West Coast District Safety Plan with the Whole of Society Approach transversal initiative, and has provided critical planning and policy resources. 
    • The Department also consults and collaborates with numerous non-state actors over time with varying frequency. This includes NPOs such as the Religious Leaders Forum, South Africans Against Drunk Driving, ChildSafe, the Global Road Safety Partnership, PedalPower, OpenStreets, the Social Justice Coalition, WheelWell and Drive More Safely. Private sector collaborations have included with various elements of the transport sector, such as the South African Bus Operator Association, as well as corporates such as Discovery Insure, Vodacom and Imperial. Academic ties to the University of Cape Town Centre for Transport Studies and Stellenbosch University’s Department of Civil Engineering are particularly strong, and senior researchers and departmental officials frequently consult with one another.
    • Through the former Road Safety Workshop programme, and now the District Safety Plan programme, the Department has consulted with numerous community organisations, particularly those in poorer communities, such as commuter advocacy groups and neighbourhood watches. Road safety practitioners from the Department work with these groups on an ongoing basis.

[2]  The Transport Management Branch will be participating in an Organizational Development process during the course of this year. Other than the vacant unfunded post for operational and administrative staff, the Branch will be exploring its current establishment operational needs to determine the amount of human resources that will be required to perform its functions more effectively. This investigation focuses on Traffic Law Enforcement, which comprises by far the largest element of the Branch. The department is currently investing in the training of 28 trainee traffic officers at Gene Louw Traffic College, who are due to graduate in July 2018.

[a]  Fatalities data analysed throughout the year on an ongoing basis suggests that the annual focus on road safety over the Festive Season is a legacy of an era in which motor vehicle ownership was concentrated in the hands of a small element of the population, and is influenced by media focus on the issue during an otherwise quiet news period. The data indicates that a year-round sustained road safety emphasis is required. In 2017, for example, more fatalities occurred in July and September than either December or January. At 125, December fatalities were over the monthly average of 110, while January fatalities, at 100, were below the monthly average.

• • • Approximately R3.2 million was utilized by the Safely Home Calendar during the months of December and January, covering #ManUpSlowDown in support of 16 Days of Activism, It Can Wait Too and the calendar theme of Alcohol and Roads Don’t Mix.

[b]  [i] Training for Traffic Law Enforcement operators to use the Drager 9510 at the Alcohol Evidentiary Centre, and portable handheld breath alcohol screeners is carried out by our qualified facilitators at the Gene Louw Traffic Centre. These officers undergo accredited training with the service provider.

[ii] Procurement of the Prolaser 4 speed detection device includes the training by the service provider

[c]  [i] & [ii] A total spend of R5.5m was invested in the procurement of 3 speed Prolaser 4 machines, 8 Drager 9510ZA machines and 350 portable handheld breath alcohol screeners.