Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members, hon MECs and hon special delegates, this debate takes place at an opportune time, when millions of our people are preparing to travel the length and breadth of our country to visit relatives and friends. During this period many of our roads will be a blood bath, where people's lives will be cut short or people will lose their limbs. Allow me to join the Minister of Transport in wishing our people a safe festive season and sounding a clarion call to transport users to be vigilant and obey the rules of our roads. We want to express our utmost support to all the transport officials who are gearing themselves up to ensure that not a single soul is lost this festive season.
We also want to send a very clear message to all those who show an utter disregard for the safety of our people and families that we will stand with our hands in the fire to ensure that they are removed completely from our roads and that those who continue to place the lives of our people at risk will face the full might of the law.
The theme of our debate today, which is "Moving South Africa safely on time", finds resonance and expression in the White Paper on National Transport Policy, which was put forward by our government to usher in a new era for our transport network after the demise of the apartheid regime in 1994. It is this message that was later crystallised by the Department of Transport into a transport vision, which was known as Vision 2020, or the Moving South Africa programme.
The commitments that we made in the Transport Vision 2020 and Moving South Africa programme encapsulate our commitment to work tirelessly to ensure the safety of all road users and develop a new culture for our public transportation system by providing safe, reliable, efficient, effective and fully integrated transport operations and infrastructure which will best meet the needs of freight and passenger customers, improving levels of service and cost in a fashion that supports government strategies for economic and social development while being environmentally and economically sustainable.
We also expressly committed ourselves to develop a strategy to ensure that the transportation system of South Africa meets the needs of South Africa in the 21st century and therefore contributes to the country's growth and economic development.
We take pride that the ANC government has been at work to advance this transport vision and build a better road infrastructure to connect our people. Our roads infrastructure has been transformed. On a daily basis we bear witness to the various programmes of our government to continue in our quest to ensure that building an efficient transport system remains the main pillar of transforming our nation.
Since 1994 our government has invested billions of rand in building a new road infrastructure and systems. Today it is estimated that there are over 6 million licensed drivers and almost 10 million registered vehicles in South Africa. We have over 4 million motorcars, 241 000 minibuses and 27 000 buses on our roads.
The expansion of our roads infrastructure and the growing population of road users have created their own challenges. The biggest challenge is the high road accident and death figure witnessed on a daily basis. Our roads remain our largest source of carnage, death and disability.
It is estimated that our nation spends almost R40 billion on crashes and road fatalities. We have seen an increase in fatalities on our roads. In the period December 2005 to December 2006, the number of registered vehicles increased by 7%. We have also seen the number of fatal crashes increase from 2006 by 6,12% and the number of road-traffic-related fatalities increase by 9%.
These figures and statistics bear testimony to the sad reality that our roads have turned into a blood bath of carnage. We have seen a rise in the culture of irresponsible driving habits and intolerance by road users. Some public transport operators such as taxi and bus drivers have developed a strong culture of irresponsible driving and intolerance that leads to the death of innocent commuters. On a daily basis many of us witness how public transporters such as taxi drivers and metro buses skip red traffic lights and cut in front of other vehicles, showing a truly repulsive disregard for other road users and traffic laws.
The primary contributory factors in fatal crashes, or the ones that impact on the seriousness of injuries, continue to be excessive speed, drinking and driving, and the nonwearing of seatbelts. In many instances the utter disregard for traffic laws and excessive speed has led to the death of innocent people such as children and pedestrians.
The fatalities on our roads are exacerbated by poor monitoring and poor enforcement of road traffic rules. Bribes and corruption are some of the ill practices that undermine the enforcement of laws on our roads. It results in the certification of vehicles with defects as being roadworthy. We have seen the proliferation of the procurement of driving licences and fake licences.
We are aware that government has acknowledged the existence of corruption and the threat that this poses to road safety. Allow me to congratulate the Minister of Transport for his tireless efforts in fighting corruption and irresponsible driving on our roads.
The Road to Safety strategy puts a high priority on co-ordinated action in all the key areas of road safety: compliance with the law, driver fitness and training, vehicle condition, fleet regulation, overload control, pedestrian education and direct community road safety participation. We have seen how buses and taxis that are not roadworthy lead to carnage and the death of our children and the poor, who are the main users of public transport.
Moving South Africa safely and on time is our collective national responsibility. Let us work together to ensure a safe, reliable, effective, efficient and fully integrated transport system. [Applause.]