Durban — eThekwini metro police are hoping to form a partnership and work with the Department of Education to help curb road accidents in the country.
Speaking at a Road Safety Summit and Expo under the theme “Road Safety is a Shared Responsibility”, deputy head of operations Sbonelo Mchunu revealed their plan to establish a partnership, at Southern Sun on Wednesday.
He was discussing the newly proposed approach to policing in eThekwini, as a smart policing tool to curb road carnage involving trucks.
The tools include portable scales and licence plate recognition systems (LPRs) to avoid vehicle overloading and therefore promote safety. LPRS cameras would be used to read and capture the registration plate and all the vehicle’s information, which could be printed immediately.
A hand-held device will be used during law enforcement operations and roadblocks to verify the details of the driver and the vehicle on eNatis.
Mchunu said the aim of using smart police tools was to reduce damage to road infrastructure and fatalities due to overloaded trucks, unroadworthy vehicles, and drivers being fatigued or unlicensed.
He said if the Department of Education could assist in emphasising the consequences of reckless driving to pupils, they would grow up understanding and respecting the rules of the road.
“Education has to come on board to help us. Children need to know how crashes and becoming statics could be avoided, so they can become better drivers. It must be known that if they fail, there are consequences such as ending up in prison or paying a fine. That must be clear and be part of their daily education,” said Mchunu.
National Department of Transport director Thandi Moya-Parkinson said leaving the challenge of accidents to the government would not do justice or yield the desired road safety results.
Moya-Parkinson said between 12 000 and 14 000 people were dying on the roads a year.
“Our plan is that by 2030, we would have reduced the number of fatalities on our roads. We are hoping to at least reduce that number to maybe 6 000 or 7 000 people per annum,” she said.
Moya-Parkinson said the department was continuously looking at ways to make roads safer.
“With this technology and engineering, we want five-star or at least three-star roads that will be safe and protect road-users. We believe engineers can design and build such roads,” she said.
Daily News
Now watch: