Creating awareness for safer roads

A non-profit organisation handed out reflective belts in several neighbourhoods last week to help make the streets a little safer for children, the elderly, pedestrians, people with disabilities, cyclists and other vulnerable road users.

The reflective belts, ViziBelts, were distributed by South Africans Against Drunk Driving (Sadd), to mark the UN Global Road Safety Week, from Monday May 15 to Sunday May 21.

Caro Smit, Sadd’s founder and director, was joined by ward councillors Simon Liell-Cock and Patricia Francke and Terence Daniels, the deputy chairman of the Ocean View CPF and a member of the Ocean View Civic Association, for the handouts in Masiphumelele and Ocean View on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 16 and 17, and, on Thursday May 18, Ms Smit, ward councillor Mandy Marr and Muizenberg CPF member Heidi Goodman handed out the ViziBelts in Muizenberg and Vrygrond.

“In Africa, one billion people walk or cycle on a daily basis and their road-safety needs still need to be met,” Ms Smit said.

This year’s theme was “streets for life” and “rethink mobility”, and Ms Smit said they called for safer streets, pavements and cycle tracks and more public transport, such as trains and buses for the public.

“It's about shifting the narrative to rethink mobility and focus on the road-safety needs of pedestrians and cyclists by taking our streets back so they become streets for life. Too much emphasis has been placed on the road-safety needs of motorists. By focusing on these vulnerable road users’ needs, road deaths can be drastically reduced,” she said.

Visit www.sadd.org.za for more information.