CAPE TOWN - The lives of more than 1 100 people who have died on the province’s roads between January and November this year were commemorated on Sunday, marked World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
South Africans Against Drunk Driving (SADD) said at least 1 163 road users died in the Western Cape from January 1 until November 17 this year. Of these victims, 617 were pedestrians, 248 were passengers, 221 were drivers, 49 motorcyclists, and 13 cyclists. Four people died when they fell off vehicles, one was hit by a train, one was a motorcycle-passenger, and nine died in other road crash related incidents.
In honour of the victims, services were held by various denominations, in conjunction with the NGOs South Africans Against Drunk Driving (SADD) and ChildSafe SA, as well as Road Safety Management (RSM) of the Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works.
Services took place at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, at an interfaith Service at the Breakthru Restoration Church in Wellington, and a pre-recorded service was broadcasted to Cape Winelands listeners of Valley FM, a community radio station in Worcester.
The theme for this year’s World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. is “Remember, Support, Act”, calling on the public to remember all people killed and seriously injured on the roads; to acknowledge and support the crucial work of the emergency services and to act by promoting evidence-based actions to prevent and eventually stop further road traffic deaths and injuries.
Caro Smit of SADD said: “Drunk driving is not seen as the violent and preventable crime that it is, it is the cause of about 58% of the deaths on our roads. SADD will continue to be proactive to stop alcohol being made more easily available at places like petrol stations, and to support victims of drunk driving.”
Smit said it was clear that restrictions on alcohol sales, like that during Covid-19, saw a decline in the amount of trauma incidents and that more needed to be done to promote the rights of all road users and bring down alcohol abuse.
Cape Times