This expert says that what we know of road safety stats is not accurate
As the Arrive Alive online initiative is celebrating 11 years of its existence, we decided to pick the brain of Johan Jonck, the leader of this amazing safety initiative helping South Africans all over the country to stay safe on the road on a daily account.
What are the road safety stats?
The ”true” stats aren’t easily accessible, meaning the stats we think we have are quite misleading. This makes it very difficult for people to get an idea around road safety, such as the exact number of road deaths last year etc.
Are there any particular hotspots for hijackings, especially in the Western Cape, that Arrive Alive concentrates on?
Arrive Alive concentrates on the overall, meaning I try to provide timeless information on road safety. At any given point there are hotspots for some sort of crime pertaining to road safety and it differs in all provinces, for me it’s hard to give hotspots for the Western Cape as well.
What projects/goals are the most important to you?
I especially want to make people aware of small things that play a big role in safety awareness on the road such as the #BuckeUpBackSeat campaign. It’s not just the front passengers that need to buckle up, but actually also the backseat passengers and that is a road rule by law.
How do you think road safety can change and what needs to change for road safety to improve?
The problem is that everyone is doing the same things. People should approach road safety in a different way – not just the obvious precautions but take other precautions as well. For instance we are saying don’t take any calls while driving, but we must also stress the fact that you should not be calling someone if that person is driving. Rather say, ‘’I know you are driving, you should not have answered your phone, talk later.’’
There are five important rules regarding road safety, also known as the five e’s: Education, enforcement, engineering, encouragement and evaluation. All of these rules need to be implemented for road safety to change. I can only implement two of those rules; the rest is up to the road users and the government.
In your opinion, should the speed limit be lowered?
I would rather put it this way: we need to give more attention to the right speed limits in the right areas. Speed limits aren’t the real problem, the real issue is certain areas where speed limits are implemented incorrectly, or not obeyed – such as the highly dangerous roads. There should also be more attention given to moving objects than the speed limit. Overall the governing is enough, however the implementation is what is lacking.
Why would you say you are involved with Arrive Alive?
For me, road safety is a passion and I do it for the satisfaction of keeping people safe on the road. During the past year we experienced the drive and passion of those committed to saving lives and preventing injuries on our roads. There is a clear understanding in the traffic environment that the road carnage cannot continue and that more needs to be done to ensure the safety of all road users. If I can do everything to prevent bad things from happening on the road I would, but unfortunately that is not in my power and I can only provide online awareness.