As part of our #CommitToAct #SaveLives-SpeakUp and #SaveKidsLives campaign SADD have been funded by Community Chest and N3TC to make learners safer on the roads.
The first step was engaging with principals, assessing the roads, painting pedestrian crossings and School ahead and 40km speed limit signs were hung up around the schools. In 2020 we will work with the educators and learners, and start road safety clubs at the schools.
Thanks to donations from Clicks, N3TC, Howick Pharmacy, Kubela Store, Trucksurance and The Fabric Gallery we were able to make a small difference in the lives of 27 Road Crash Victims at Greys, Edendale and Northdale Hospitals.
Many of the victims have either no or very infrequent visitors, either have been or will be hospitalized for extended periods of time and this then made the SADD teams visit, support and the gift bag so special to them.
The majority of the victims we visited had been pedestrians walking on the verge, or drivers and passengers abiding by the road rules. Most of the crashes had been caused by other reckless and intoxicated drivers. Road conditions, e.g. gravel roads, wet roads, potholes, no pavements or lighting were other leading reasons for the crashes.
SADD would therefore like to promote the erecting of guard rails in high traffic areas and in public transport drop-off collection points. There is an ongoing need for Road Safety Awareness campaigns to be run by the Department of Transport and by other road safety specialists like SADD.
Again, we found that many passengers were not buckled up. It was difficult to correctly quantify the number of intoxicated drivers, as many victims became unconscious and did not remember specific details.
SADD were also able to hand out training manuals to doctors at the 3 Hospitals as part of our preventative and educative work.
We hope by sharing the road crash victim stories with the public we will highlight the financial and emotional devastation that crashes cause to victims and their families and how it places an unnecessary and enormous burdens on our health system.
Pictured above: Zebra crossing at Nogqaza Primary School.
News supplied by SADD.