Do you still use an antique typewriter or the newest advance technology?
A Provincial Traffic Chief once said to me when I inform him about a solution; “another solution … all of a sudden everyone has a solution and they think this is the one who will do the job”. I was dumbstruck in the disparaging way he refers to the honest inputs of the general public and road users. Every input to save the lives of people or to bring down road accidents is important. How could he and other Chief Traffic Officers expect that road users will listen to their pleas to drive within the rules of the road if they ignore honest inputs?
Every year at the beginning of the December holiday season, heavy traffic overloads our main roads and it will increase till New-year. Every year there are thousands more new motorists on the road. Then a day or two after this day all the traffic which built up to this day will use the same roads back, where they originally came from. More chaos will be experienced as before this day. The same refrain we hear every year now for years on end, will be used by the Traffic Authorities, the media and other … threaten us with high fines, please maintain a careful following distance (impossible if the same warns you that the traffic is moving bumper-to-bumper), obey the rules of the road, jail sentences, bribes etc. But this you know already.
Again during a post-mortem the discussions will centre around the high increase in accidents and death on our roads. Solutions …? Mr. Kenny Africa acknowledges the fact that there is an negative increase in the attitude and behaviour of motorists towards warnings, rules of the road and other road users (guest RSG 23/12/2017).
There is a solution and some of us already brought this under the authorities and media attention since the beginning of 2013 (There are many documents and correspondence to proof it). They were warned then, that the solutions used won’t help and accidents and death on roads will increase … exactly what happened. The Ministers of Public Roads and Transport every year told us about the billions of rand it cost the State.
The solution … and if we listened to what was put on the table years ago, could be solved by now if we utilised the billions of rand it cost the State … is in your hands already. The solution can solve many other problems as well. You already own that solution and only need to extend it …
Why the Road Authorities are dragging their feet and ignore this solution …? As already said you own it and it is technology. Yes the average speed over distance (asod) camera system in use is working but it is not enough. It is what happens between those cameras and where it is not in use. Every kilometer of our roads should be covered by cameras. If they implemented this at that time than with all the thousands of lives and billions of rand we loss over these years because it was ignored and of ignorance we can by now already covered every inch of our roads with surveillance cameras and have offices and people appointed in many towns and cities where they can police all traffic from a surveillance centre.
Our rural towns are struggling and give residence to millions of jobless people under a difficult negative economic environment. In every rural town there are unused State and old SA railway buildings which can be used as surveillance centre. We can make use of these millions of people and give them a job instead of the private sector who will charge you billions of rand.
With this solution you create a countrywide interlinked Road Network system and every surveillance centre, law enforcement, the media and other can immediately see what happens on our roads. You can for example identify those who use their cell phones whilst driving. You can also go back on someone’s journey if there is a suspicion he/she cause an accident or especially in case of taxis if they take regular rests. You can replay any contingency because of the backup system and is therefore possible to see how an accident happened. Backup systems can be used in court cases. The benefits are legion.
The main point is that motorists, truck drivers, taxis etc. must be aware of these cameras and it must be in their faces all the time over the whole trip. Drivers are more afraid of a camera than an officer in his car next to the road. Yes if they see such an officer then all of a sudden they became the best law obedient drivers in the country but as soon they are out of site they became again the most reckless drivers again. Cameras will have that obedience factor because they know that they are watched 24/7 in a surveillance centre.
There was a massive increase of death on our roads since 2013 when this was brought under your attention.
I hope you will give your attention to this solution because it can solve many problems also job creation. You do not need Traffic Officers to patrol the roads every day because they can patrol it via the surveillance cameras.
Let’s look at a few benefits of this solution:
The Authorities determined by Law take control over the Network system and is responsible for the Administration, implementing, creating of new infrastructure, maintenance thereof. Linkage with the Network system is via satellite or existing cell phone Networks.
- Infrastructure creation.
- BEE projects.
- Training of disadvantaged people in the maintenance of the infrastructure.
- Traffic Officers can concentrate on more roadblocks under the watchful eye of the surveillance cameras. If a motorist tries to turnaround or ignore the roadblock then the cameras will pick it up. No more unnecessary traveling.
- Controlling over bribery.
- Job creation. We all are aware of the poorest of poor in our rural towns, drug addiction, alcoholism, violence against children and women, rape, poor infrastructure and many, many more.
- Less expenditure due to the fact that officers do not need to patrol long distance of roads.
- Billions of Rand savings because of fewer accidents.
- Control over un-roadworthy vehicles.
- Control over false registration because of the built-in technology of the system.
- Control over unlicensed drivers.
- Control over offenders.
- Control over crime on our roads such as in-transit robbery, vehicle hijacking, human trafficking, attacks on women in vehicles, smuggling, etc. etc.
- Control over passenger buses and buses transport school children.
- Control over heavy vehicles.
- Control over taxis.
- Control over animals on the road.
- Full control over the rules of the road.
- More obedient drivers.
- Full control over heavy traffic during the holiday seasons.
- Better control over pedestrians.
- Control over drunk drivers.
- Immediate attention to accidents. Day or night.
- Fast attention and removal of the injured and dead.
- Fast removal of damaged vehicles and cleaning up the road.
- Almost zero death and injuries on our roads.
- Wet and flooded roads.
- Damage roads.
- Veld fires.
- Sabotage of roads.
- Riots on roads and blocked by stones and burning objects.
- Stone-throwers from bridges.
- Warning motorists via digital technology about dangers ahead. This digital technology is part of the solution and digital info-screens on some of the same structures of the cameras mounted.
This is only a few positives and there are many more.
Eskom is an excellent example. They think more about the lives of birds than the authorities of the lives of humans. They control their Network of thousands of kilometers overhead power cables with cameras to determine where the most incidents occur where birds were killed.
Take action … action speaks louder than words and get this cameras/technology on our roads, give the jobless an income, remove this evil of recklessness and bribery, and bring joy to love ones who arrive safely at their destination.
There are enough experts in this field who will agree to this solution.
However, be warned …! There are long-established businesses with many sub-divisions which will do everything possible in their power to sabotage this solution or any other workable solution whose goal it is to bring down road accidents and the death on our roads. These businesses existence needs accidents and death to survive.
You must decide which one to support …
Sincerely
PC Fourie