Communities for Road Safety, Gauteng
Communities for Road Safety (CORSAF) is an umbrella body which co-ordinates road safety in the Gauteng North region, including Ateridgeville, Mamelodi, Laudium, Pretoria Central, Hammanskraal and Soshanguve. The organisation has committed itself to promoting safety among schoolchildren and communities. It has taken the initiative to educate communities in Gauteng North about the importance of using the road responsibly. BP Southern Africa is the main sponsor of this project and has been sponsoring it since 1996.
South Africa has one of the worst road accident rates in the world, with about 10 000 people killed and close to 50 000 seriously injured each year on the country’s roads, at an estimated cost to the economy of more than R13-billion. The main cause of loss of lives through road accidents is found to be human attitude. Drinking and driving, reckless driving, speeding and driving through red traffic lights and failure to stop at stop signs are some of the causes of road accidents.
The Gauteng Road Safety Promotion, together with CORSAF, embarked on the establishment of the junior traffic training centres to make people more aware of the importance of using the road safely. At the centre, children learn about safe pedestrian behaviour, traffic rules, signs and road markings, relevant pedestrian and driver skills, motor skills with regard to handling of push wheels and a positive attitude in road usage. The aim is to continually expose children to traffic safety training in a way that will cultivate safe road usage as a way of life.
As part of the project, concerns were raised about pedestrian bridges and improved road markings and signs, which the department has subsequently installed where financially possible. Educating all road users also forms part of ensuring the project’s long term success.
