Western Cape transport and public works minister Robin Carlisle last week launched a new round of Crash Witness CCTV videos.
The campaign, SA's first government viral campaign, garnered nearly 400 000 views online since its inception in December.
The videos come from CCTV cameras located across the province and are not for sensitive viewers, or viewers under the age of 18, as the content is graphic.
The campaign is launched on Safely Home's Web site, where the videos are uploaded.
The Western Cape government's Safely Home initiative is aimed at reducing the number of people killed on the province's roads by 50%, by the end of 2014. “The programme has led to a 29% reduction in road fatalities in just under three years,” says the programme.
Fatality videos
“Crash Witness brings real CCTV footage of crashes to the public and captures the consequences when people speed, walk across roads recklessly, do not wear seatbelts, drive and walk drunk, and drive while distracted,” says the department.
“Releasing these was a very difficult decision. But this is the reality of what is happening on our roads.”
Carlisle says the hundreds of comments received about Crash Witness have helped shape road safety policy, including recent proposals for new provincial regulations regarding child safety, speed limits and scholar transport.
“The videos were mostly of fatal crashes, showing the real effects on our roads of speed, drink driving, not wearing seat belts, and irresponsible road use by pedestrians.”
Safely Home was started in 2009, when the death rate on the province's roads was at a high, with 1 739 killed in 2008, according to the MEC. “Since then, the death toll has dropped 29.2%, all the way down to 1 231 over the last 12 months.”
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