Kimberley- The Northern Cape Provincial Government, and specifically the Department of Transport, Safety & Liaison, under the leadership of the Honourable MEC Barbara Bartlett has embraced the decision by the United Nations to declare the ten (10) year period after 2011 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety.

The declaration is a commitment to work towards halving road fatalities by half by the year 2020 and as a Province we are beefing up and investing in technologies that will help us achieve this target and ensure effective traffic operations for a better Northern Cape Province.

The innovative technology that the Law Enforcement agents (Provincial Traffics) will be utilizing in their effort to reduce accidents and fatalities, will form part of a series of events and developments that will be unveiled over time. 
These innovative technologies are:

• The Latest alcohol testing breathalysers (100)
• State of the art speed checking cameras (10) 
• Dual cellphone – two way radio communication system (54)
• Conferencing facilities for road safety engagements and updates

The use of these innovative technologies will enhance and improve our efforts with regards to road safety and strengthen our plans to address the challenges of non-adherence to the rules of the road.

The high-tech alcohol breathalyser can detect alcohol from someone’s breath during a conversation if it is brought close to the person’s mouth where the old technology required one to blow a certain amount of air into the device.  The speed camera can capture speed of 2 to 3 vehicles simultaneously unlike the traditional equipment which only captured one vehicle at a time. 

The dual cellphone technology allows for our traffics to communicate over a 1 000 radius which will aid in effective traffic policing.  So, these technologies will form part of proactive approaches and measures that will be implemented over time to ensure road safety in our Province. 

These efforts is an indication that Road Safety is top priority in the Province and that it is not an event but a 365 days process, and remains the responsibility of each and every one of us.  So, what we are saying as a department is that we are putting our money where our mouths are thus engaging on on-going operations, activities and improving on our technologies.

Over a period of time, we will unveil a series of activities that will demonstrate the gravity that we give to Road Safety in order to reduce fatalities on our roads in additions to those that we are implementing.

Some of the interventions, approaches and plan of actions will entail aspect of continuous awareness, education, marketing and branding, mobilization, effective operationalization of weigh-bridges, involvement of schools, learners and teachers; and the use of innovative technology to improve and enhance Road Safety leading to the reduction fatalities.

-TDN

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It was another bloody Easter on South Africa’s roads.

The 2015 Easter road death toll has increased compared to previous years. 287 people have died in 208 collisions over the Easter weekend.

This is 139 more fatalities than last year. 148 people died on the country’s roads last year over Easter.

For more http://www.sabc.co.za

Although the country is not a breeding ground for recruiting terrorists there are signs that terror groups like the Islamic State (ISIS) are finding support among locals.

This is according to the Department of State Security. The department says ISIS’s messages are filtering through to South Africans.

For more http://www.sabc.co.za

BY OBAKENG MAJE

SINGLE state-run inpatient treatment centre for management of people addicted to drugs and related substances has been put up in Taung hospital, North West MEC for Social Development  Fenny Gaolaolwe said on Tuesday.

“The construction of a twenty bed inpatient treatment centre at a cost of R21 million is at an advanced stage. During the construction phase, the project contributed immensely to local economic spin-offs by creating jobs to the residents of Taung,” Gaolaolwe said.

Gaolaolwe said another fourty bed inpatient treatment centre is still under construction at Witrand hospital in Tlokwe.

The two facilities, Gaolaolwe said are attached to hospitals and will be managed in partnership with the Department of Health to maximise available resources upon completion.

Senior foreman at Taung inpatient treatment, Stuurman Shomaela said more than twenty one unemployed residents from Nommer 1, Ditshilong and other villages in Greater Taung local municipality have benefited from the project during the construction phase. More residents Stuurman said  are still to be employed to do plumbing, roofing and tiling in the second phase of the project.

Research by the Medical Research Council shows that South Africans consume five billion litres of alcohol a year. In certain communities more than 30% of the men and up to 15% of the women each consume more than 30 litres of alcohol every year.

-TDN

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