Johannesburg - The Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters on Thursday urged the public to watch the new drama series titled 'Ingozi' which aims to promote road safety and help the public understand their role in reducing the shockingly high road fatalities in the country.
The latest road fatality statistics released by the transport department reveal that 1714 people were killed on South African roads between December 1, 2016 to January 9, 2017.
This was a 4% increase compared to the previous year. Peters has always pointed to bad driver attitudes as contributing to the carnage on the roads. In a statement on Thursday Peters said the 30 minute long Ingozi drama will be televised on SABC 1 from February 12 - May 7.
It was produced by the renowned Duma Ndlovu and features Xolile Tshabalala and Jet Novuka, among others. Peters said the department of transport and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) partnered with Word of Mouth production to develop the 13-part informative drama series. "The series aims to raise public awareness about road safety using a television drama series to deliver the message.
This brings a unique offering in terms of subject matter as the issue of road safety and fatalities has never been formally addressed on such a platform before," said Peters. "I have no doubt that road safety education that starts at an early age and that uses popular technology and media platforms should be one of the core focus areas in assisting us to turn the tide on road safety."
Peters said her department realised that the worldview and experiences of our young people were changing all the time. "We now live in the era of social media, of free Wi-Fi and of video-on-demand. If our road safety messages are not sufficiently fresh and creative they will get lost in the clutter of competing ideas."
The series is also intended to persuade road users to stop bad behaviour, particularly the youth, that may contribute to road accidents. Statistics indicate that road fatalities are highest in the age group 20 - 40.