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KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) spent 15 554 hours – or 648 days - dealing with mop-up operations following accidents and protest action obstructions rather than the prevention of disaster on our roads.

The statistic forms part of a report presented to the province’s Transport portfolio committee late last week.

While the figure may seem an achievement, the reality is that this is critical time that should have been spent on visible policing. It also goes a long way to explain why there are hardly ever RTI vehicles on KZN’s major routes, particularly hot spot areas.

KZN has been burdened by an excessive amount of road carnage due to reckless driving, unroadworthy vehicles and speeding. Trucks and taxi accidents have contributed massively to the increase in road accidents.

Families have buried babies, learners, primary care givers and bread winners. Yet it appears that the province’s Department of Transport (DoT) - under MEC Sipho Hlomuka – cannot get to grips with the crisis facing our road users.

The report further shows that the DoT has consistently failed to achieve several key targets;

• During the last financial year, the DoT failed to reach speed operations targets by 4 761 due to non-functional timing machines. There were also major delays relating to the tender processes to have the machines calibrate. This led to a reduction in RTI officers monitoring speeding - ultimately contributing to more speeding, reckless driving and an increase in accidents
• In Quarter 1, the DoT failed to achieve its target of weighing trucks at weigh bridges by 21 741, meaning that more than 21 000 trucks missed being weighed and checked for compliance while on KZN’s roads
• In Quarter 1, stop and search operations by RTI officers were short by 92 698 and
• The target in terms of filling vacant posts was also not achieved with numerous positions still unfilled. The staff shortages have compromised performance, with the DoT confirming and acknowledging that this lack of capacity has caused underachievement on several targets.

The DA has raised its concerns over RTI issues on numerous occasions. We have offered several solutions in terms of accident prevention yet the MEC and his department have ignored these to date.

It is not enough for the DoT to launch a probe every time there is another horror crash. Strategies must be identified to prevent accidents. The MEC and his department can no longer adopt a reactive stance when people continue to die on their watch and while solutions are staring them in the face.

With just four months until the peak holiday season arrives there is no time to waste. Our roads must be made safer and RTI must be capacitated to provide proper support to law enforcement. KZN’s roads cannot remain a death trap.

Issued by Sharon Hoosen, MPL - DA KZN Spokesperson on Transport