Chair, the very root of our problems in road safety and the deaths and crashes on our roads keeps being ignored, whilst expensive, meaningless campaigns that produce no improved results are implemented, and deaths increase annually.
For example, the Department of Transport has repeated what it has done previously with Christmas season statistics. It compared last Christmas season's preliminary toll of 1 551 to that of the 2009-10 finalised toll of 1 582. The Department of Transport, DoT, now claims that the figure announced on 26 January 2010 was, in fact, preliminary and that the actual death toll for last year's holiday season was 1 761. Now, where does this figure come from? We've never seen it before and it's never been announced publicly.
These figures are all taken from the DoT directly. The department's own official figures therefore have no credibility. The bottom line is that vehicle accidents cost the South African economy more than R56 billion annually. I predict that the crashes and deaths on our roads will continue to increase in future, unless causes such as those I will highlight today are addressed.
A number of simple things can be done that will provide immediate, improved results. Minister, I again highlight and present to you and your Deputy our Six-Point Plan, which I did last year. I will do it again this year, and I ask you to read it this time round.
The first point in the plan proposes the updating of the K53 licences by making this test more relevant for today, thus reducing crashes, fatalities and deaths. A few things need to be removed from this 30-year-old, outdated test.
An example is the yard test, which is a pointless formality that adds nothing to road safety. The yard test takes 20 minutes, as does the road test. In 1998, the last year for which figures for all fatality types were available, the number of fatalities which took place in reverse gear was a total of 16 out of the 9 068 crashes for that year. Doesn't it strike you as bizarre that half of the time is spent on driving practices responsible for 0,2% of fatalities? These tests need to be updated post-haste.
My other concern is law enforcement and penalties. Allow me to provide you with some examples of high speedsters caught and their penalties:
A Mr Amith Sookraj was fined R35 000 for speeding in March last year. His licence was suspended for six months.
In November 2010, a Mr Farouk Patel was fined R20 000 for doing 197 km/h. The DoT claimed that it would suspend his licence automatically for six months.
However, in December 2010 a certain gentleman in an expensive motor vehicle clocked one of the highest recorded speeds ever, a speed of 235 km/h. His fine was a mere R20 000 and nothing else. A mere tap on the wrist! Why? This motorist happened to be Dan Kgothule, the Free State Member of the Executive Council, MEC, for Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation. This is an example of how a sentence is not commensurate with the offence. Examples like these demonstrate one of the reasons for our road carnage, and do not act as deterrent.
Another concern for me is rail. Since 1994 government has systematically emasculated the railways. Rail transport has floundered, recently reaching an all-time low when the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, shut down the Shosholoza Meyl service between Johannesburg and Cape Town. This was allegedly due to profitability issues, but it was widely reported - never denied by the department - that the rolling stock was actually unsafe for mainline usage. The rail crisis reaches even lower depths with the recent fatal crash, where over 850 commuters were injured. This is the second crash this year. The ANC's indifference to rail transport, which should be the backbone of public transport by the way, caused a massive swing towards trucking, and it is no coincidence that the road fatality rates went in an upward direction, starting in 1998, as the number of trucks on our roads exceeded the traffic police's resources and competence. For example, the paucity of weighbridges and the preference to enforce speed instead of moving violations were directly responsible for the complete destruction of the N3 to Durban by overloaded trucks, resulting in its being rebuilt and, of course, tolled so heavily that it's now cheaper to fly to Durban than to drive. The solution is to make sure that we include public partnerships, because Prasa in its current budget cannot continue in the way it is doing.
Although I applaud the plan for a new face of rail, an interim rail plan is needed. The Railway Safety Regulator reports that 5 307 - I'll repeat that, 5 307 - train crashes occurred between 2008 and 2009. The report indicates that these crashes left 434 people dead. We now have the distinction of having the most dangerous rail system in the world.
And yes, Minister, something can be done in the meantime until we completely fix our rail system. For example, train drivers can be properly trained, and disciplined should they contravene safety regulations, and security systems can be beefed up to prevent infrastructure vandalism and theft. So, Minister, I'm pleading that you stop the pointless campaigns, which actually don't bring down deaths, and start with the basics. Searching a million vehicles every month hasn't brought down the numbers. That's the bottom line. Until our figures come down, I'll remain unconvinced about searching these vehicles and all the other campaigns. I say, do the basics, and by starting with the basics you'll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly deaths, on both our roads and rail tracks, will start dropping. Thank you very much. [Applause.]