Keeping children safe in traffic

The 300 posters, launched by the MEC for Transport and Public Works Donald Grant on Tuesday, are aimed at raising awareness of the dangers to children on the streets.

The four areas which have the highest accident rate are Fukutha Street in Khayelitsha around Nkazimlo primary school, two areas in Delft, the Sandelhout-Orange Circle crossroads and the Sheffield, Jan Dissels and Barka Road crossroads, the area around Oscar primary school in Nyanga, and Nkqubelani Street in Mfuleni.

Between 1 January 2014 and 31 August 2014, the Forensic Pathology Service reported, 133 people under 19 were killed on the roads. Of those, 85 were pedestrians (64%), 32 passengers, 6 motor-cyclists, 1 a motor-cycle pillion passenger, 2 drivers, and 7 unknown.

Of the 85 pedestrian deaths, 59 were children under 10 (69.4%).

In the posters pictures of children who live in the high-risk areas have been used.

Simphiwe Ulana, principal of Itsitsa primary school in Nkqubelani Street in Mfuleni, where the campaign was launched, said speed bumps and traffic wardens were needed, not posters. He said speed bumps had helped on the other side of the school.

Nosakhe Chanti and Nonceba Qheku, whose children attend the school, agreed speed bumps would be better.

“These posters are so small; these people drive so fast they won’t be able to see them. We need speed bumps,” said Chanti.