15 July 2008

THE City of Tshwane was awarded the first prize in the International Road Federation's (IRF's) 2007 Road Safety Awards competition for a project called "Development and implementation of road safety master plans - an inclusive approach".

The IRF is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation with the mission to encourage and promote the development and maintenance of better, safer and more sustainable roads and road networks.

Working together with its members and associates, the IRF advances social and economic benefits that flow from well-planned and environmentally sound road transport networks.

The City of Tshwane's strategic executive director of Public Works and Infrastructure Development, Ndivho Lukhwareni, attended the award ceremony in Ljubljana, Slovenia together with the acting executive director of the Roads and Stormwater Division, Hilton Vorster.

According to Lukhwareni, the project focused on the importance of an inclusive approach in the development of road safety master plans, incorporating engineering measures, law enforcement actions, and education and awareness programmes.

"The project is unique in a number of ways," said Lukhwareni. "Information on road crashes and hazardous locations was obtained from the community when it was unavailable from accident data. The process, which was developed to identify accident spots, verify and prepare implementation plans, was seen as innovative and transferable to many other countries."

"The road safety master plans enabled the City of Tshwane to identify and focus on vulnerable road users, such as the youth, the poorer communities and the elderly," added Lukhwareni.

Youth and road safety campaigns were run at schools in collaboration with the Tshwane Metropolitan Police to create awareness that road accidents are the biggest cause of death internationally among people between the ages of 10 and 25 years. This is according to a study by the World Health Organisation.

The project was also carried out in collaboration with the Tshwane Metropolitan Police.

"Law enforcement and education programmes of the Tshwane Metropolitan Police supplemented the road safety master plans and helped to reduce fatalities and serious accidents in the city," said Lukhwareni.

Fatalities and serious injuries from road traffic crashes in the City of Tshwane showed a marked reduction: 40% in fatalities between 2002 and 2007, and more than 20% between 2006 and 2007 (from 271 in 2006 to 214 in 2007).

The reduction in fatalities among the youth (6 to 20 years) from 28 fatalities in 2006 to 6 in 2007 was especially significant. Also, serious injuries involving the youth decreased from 238 in 2006 to 206 in 2007.

The second prize was awarded to the Rijkswaterstaat, Department of Public Works in the Netherlands, while the third prize was awarded to the Roads and Traffic Authority in New South Wales, Australia.

Source: tshwane.gov.za