With the sharp daily and weekend increase in traffic volumes along all major routes due to South Africa entering Adjusted Alert Level 1 of lockdown, road safety education continues to remain a very important focus area for all road users to ensure safer roads for all.
Bakwena Platinum Corridor Concessionaire (Pty) Ltd (Bakwena) in partnership with Imperial Logistics, Supa Quick, Active Education and the Gauteng Department for Basic Education joined forces to roll out Bakwena’s annual Road Safety Roadshows in eight primary schools in the Hammanskraal area close to the Bakwena N1 route.
The youth are South Africa’s future, therefore in order for education and road safety awareness campaigns to be effective in the long term, it is critical that these campaigns are implemented from the ground up, starting at primary school level to help promote a culture of road safety awareness.
“According to the World Health Organisation more than half of all road traffic deaths are among vulnerable road users: pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Safety is a core part of everything we do in our business from safety on the road to safety in the communities that reside along our route”, says Bakwena’s Chief Operations Officer Solomon Kganyago
This initiative provides school children with road safety education in a fun and participatory way highlighting rules of the road for pedestrians and addressing the importance of wearing a seatbelt whether they are using public transport, taxi’s or travelling with their parents. JSE-listed Imperial Logistics (Imperial) provided these children with ‘walking seatbelts’ which is a reflective sash that is worn by the children to ensure higher visibility and catch a driver’s attention to reduce pedestrian accidents. "As a significant user of roads and as part of our commitment to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our drivers, communities and future generations, Imperial continues to give the gift of safety to ensure that we are a part of the change that we want to see on our roads," says Esha Mansingh, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs & Investor Relations at Imperial. In addition, Imperial made available a fuel tanker which was used in educating the children on the do’s and don’ts of being near a large vehicle to demonstrate the blind spots where the driver would not be able to see pedestrians. Supa Quick sponsored a junior traffic centre at Refitlhile Primary school as well as contributing to the branded sashes.
The schools that benefitted from this joint initiative were Mabu-a tlou Primary School, Kekana Primary School, Reneilwe Primary School, Lefofa Primary School, Itireleng Primary School, Mosaledi Primary School, St Camilus Primary School and Refitlhile Primary school. “Bakwena’s CSI programmes have meaningful impacts on many aspects of the lives of people in communities around the routes that we operate. We are passionate about their well-being and committed to educating road users and children on road safety as well as environmental & heritage issues with the view to improve the lives of the people along these routes. Bakwena is committed to making a difference every kilometre of the way” concludes Kganyago.
