Youth have say on road safety

As the country marks Youth Month, a gathering was held at the Thusong Hall in Khayelitsha on Friday to provide young people with a safe space to discuss their common road safety concerns.

With the high statistics of young people dying on the roads due to crashes, the Western Cape Mobility Department - Directorate Road Safety Management (Metro East) in conjunction with Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), City of Cape Town Traffic, Road Accident Fund and City of Cape Town engineers held the Road Safety Youth Dialogue aimed at galvanising action by young people and coming up with solutions.

The dialogue involved close to 100 young people between the ages of 18 to 35.

After introductions and short speeches by different stakeholders, young people were placed in three groups to discuss the issues and come back with suggestions and solutions.

After the lengthy debates among themselves, Nqabakazi Mnengisa said as young people they had decided that “never again shall a young person die because of a reckless driver”.

She said they have agreed as young people that most crashes and fatalities are caused by factors such as drinking and driving, walking while intoxicated, and unlicensed drivers.

“Our suggestion is that any reckless driver should get a harsh sentence. We have also suggested that the driver’s licence should be revoked for a good 10 years. There is a need for them to be sentenced,” she said.

She said the RTMC must create more awareness about road safety among the youth.

Andile Mampofu called on the RMTC to be visible and accessible. He said most people do not know about its work. “There really should be harsher sentences for the offenders. But we also felt the RTMC should visit places like the taverns to educate people of the dangers of alcohol, drinking and driving and other dangerous factors,” he suggested.

Before going to groups, youth representative Lerato Pilane from the National Safety Youth Status City and Solomzi Mdlangaso, a RTMC youth representative, both warned young people of the dangers of alcohol, driving while fatigued and other risks.

Ms Pilane urged young people to own their space. She said young people need to be involved in debates such as these.

“The youths have been identified as a high risk. The stats show that 1000 people are lost everyday. These are young people from low income homes. But mostly dying are pedestrians from 20 to 40 years. That means we are losing the working class. We are losing the future,” she said.

She added that around the world, young people have been identified as a high-risk group for road safety because they are inexperienced, and they tend to overestimate their abilities.

On the other hand, Mr Mdlangaso said Khayelitsha has the most fatalities. He said each day two people die on the roads. He said the hotspots for deaths are the N2, Mew Way, Jeff Masemola Road and Parma Road. He said the scary part in Khayelitsha is that those who die are “mostly black males.”

Deputy director at the RTMC, Nina September said her department wants to make sure the young people are safe on the roads. The aim is to engage youth who are predominantly affected by road crashes; to talk about road safety and provide youth-driven solutions.

She also reiterated that the dialogue was aimed at educating youth to change their behaviour and attitudes on the road.

“We want to hear their voice. The majority of people who are dying on the roads are youths. To us whatever information they come up with is important. Remember in debate there is no right or wrong. We are trying to communicate with them so that they can change their behaviour,” she said.

She added that the programme was to inculcate a culture of safer road usage in youth.

The suggestions made by the young people will be considered by the RTMC.