South Africans Against Drunk Driving (www.sadd.org.za), is a registered NPO and PBO, working to promote road safety and offer support to families of victims of road crashes. We hope you enjoy reading our newsletter. Please contact us with any comments or queries.
The 510 deaths over Easter on the roads means a 14% increase in 2018 - and this is on top of a 51% increase experienced 2017.
This 2018 Easter Death Toll is the equivalent of 4 large planes crashing over 12 days. Plane crashes would have received immediate media and parliamentary coverage and action.
Why are people not outraged and demanding evidence-based actions?
This is absolute carnage and the cost of the deaths alone is R2 billion over this period.
This does not take into account all the costs of the injured, costs of vehicle repairs, or other costs associated with the incidents.
These crashes retard our long term economic growth and push families into poverty. We need greater prevention action based on global best-practice, and we need it now.
The solutions include:
Consistency and longevity of a committed Minister of Transport.
More enforcement of our excellent traffic laws - especially enforcing seatbelt use in the front and back, testing for drink driving, and speed prosecution.
Using the Draeger Evidential Breathalyser in all DUI cases.
Increasing and speeding up court cases to convict traffic offenders and implementing sanctions such as License Suspensions and Jail Time.
Working with knowledgeable stakeholders like Road Safety NGOs.
Behaviour only changes if there is a high probability of being caught and receiving penalties. In South Africa people drive dangerously because they can get away with it. This causes unacceptable carnage.
Sign our Petition
Be Outraged!! Be pro-active! Be a concerned citizen and demand safer roads for all!
Please sign the Petition to President Cyril Ramaphosa: 16000+ annual road deaths in SA is unacceptable.
Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit & GRSP Road Safety Leadership Training Course
Caro Smit was very honoured to have been nominated for the Global Road Safety Leadership Course (GRSLC) that was held from March 04 - 17, 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya. This course was co-organized by the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) and the Johns Hopkins University International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU) with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies. 63 participants from LMICs around the globe attended the training.
Caro completed the leadership training on evidence-based best-practices that should be used in road safety.
The trainers on the course were world authorities on road safety and injury prevention. Some of the trainers included the likes of Adnan Hyder, Abdul Bachani, Margie Peden, Amber Mehmood, Andres Vecino from JH-IIRU, Dave Cliff, Judith Fleiter, Blaise Murphet from GRSP, Soames Job from World Bank GRSF, Skye Duncan from NACTO, Jessica Truong from Global NCAP, amongst others.
Practical work included;
A visit to Machacos Hospital in Kenya to inspect Post-Crash-Care and data collection;
A school road safety interventions site visit to two Primary schools;
Group work on evaluating and changing a hazardous location using good urban planning; and
An in-depth large la group project that involved evaluating a fictitious countries road crash data and presenting 3 strategic changes that would dramatically improve road safety in that "country" using the training we has been given.
Topics covered included:
The Road Safety Problem: an overview of the global burden; Leadership visions; Overview of frameworks, concepts & principals; Risk factors - what they are & how to measure them; Data sources - strengths & weaknesses; The role of enforcement; Policy & legislative environment; Principals of behaviour change; Ddvocacy; Post-crash care, response, data & measurements; Urban design assessments & solutions; Sustainable transport; Safer vehicles-assessments & solutions; Politics, government & persuasion ; Economics & financing; Decision making & resource allocation; Vulnerable road users; etc.
International Road Victims Partnership (IRVP) Launch of new NGO
IRVP comprises over 60 Road Safety & Road Victims' NGOs from all regions of the world who have come together united in our mission to strengthen and improve the Post-Crash Response, and in particular activities outlined in Pillar 5 of the UN plan for the “Decade of Action for road safety.”
From 16-18th March 2018 in Mullingar, Ireland, at our first ever Global conference for road victims, we gathered several hundred delegates from all regions of the world, among them the WHO, World Rescue Org, Johns Hopkins University, NGOs and representatives from civil society from all regions of the World, together with many prestigious speakers and experts in Post-Crash activities, including rescue, rehabilitation & Victim Support.
Together we reviewed progress in Pillar 5 related activities in the UN Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. Delegates worked together to define next steps at global and national level, and to raise their collective voice so as to ensure the achievement of the goals of the UN Plan for the Decade of Action & the Sustainable Development Goals - to save lives and prevent injury, and to work together to ensure that adequate provision is made for all of those affected by these totally preventable tragedies which leave families & communities worldwide destroyed in their wake.
Conference Theme: Post-Crash Response in UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.
Main discussion items included: Rescue & Rehabilitation; Victim Information & Support; Police investigation; Data collection & sharing; Coroner's Inquest; Criminal Prosecution; Civil Compensation & Justice
W.H.O., Johns Hopkins Injury Unit, and Global Road Safety Partnership have asked road safety organizations to not accept money from alcohol companies.
SADD has now severed its ties with SAB/AB InBev and Diageo.
We thank SAB/AB InBev for their financial assistance to enable us the run the “University Responsible Alcohol use, drink driving/walking and basic road safety program” for the last 10 years. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding we have had to shelve our work in the 11 Universities we worked in.
We thank Diageo for their financial assistance in the past to make pamphlets and to support victims of drink driving.
Support SADD
Donate to SADD and help us in our work in education on road safety, awareness and victim support.
Thank you to all our supporters
Thank you to everyone who supports SADD in whatever way, whether through donating or joining the MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet programme and donating for SADD when you shop or by supporting Litres for Education and donating to SADD when you fill up with petrol.
