October is Transport Month in South Africa with a renewed focus on transport issues in the country.
Over the last few years, there have been two objectives the government has aimed to achieve: to showcase transport infrastructure and further road safety initiatives.
The CEO of MasterDrive, Eugene Herbert, says the organisation is welcoming Transport Month and looks forward to the achievements that will be made this month. “As the country starts to return to a semblance of normalcy after the lockdown, the road fatality rates returned to their high statistics as well. This is despite the fact that not all companies resumed work from the office but continued remote operations.
“While a continued slump in road fatality rates could be anticipated at the start, this was not the case. Research conducted internationally during lockdown attributed this to an increase in reckless driving on roads with less traffic and to people being more likely to use their phones whilst driving because of the greater reliance on cell phones that developed during lockdown.”
Now, as we return to the swing of things, it is a good time to remind drivers of the importance of sticking to some vital road safety tips that may have been forgotten. “South Africa did see a decrease in its road fatality statistics, particularly over notoriously deadly periods like the festive season, but it is likely the country also saw the many impacts countries all over the world did and, possibly even, at a higher number.
“Consequently, the time is right to re-initiate road safety campaigns during Transport Month. As traffic volumes begin to increase and drivers return to the road with bad habits, it has never been so important to spread the road-safety awareness message – and to continue doing so up to and throughout the festive season. We do not want to be in a situation where we not only return to pre-pandemic statistics but even higher.”
MasterDrive will again be adding their voice to this month with a brand-new initiative. “We are launching ‘Driving the Influence’, and this year we will be bringing attention and awareness to driving under the influence. It will feature the popular panel discussion with industry role-players as well as a number of speakers who will look at the topic from various perspectives,” says Eugene.
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