At SANRAL, road safety is always top of mind.

Being alert and aware should be of the utmost importance each time you are on the road.  

Sadly, road safety usually only crosses people’s minds during peak periods of seasonal travel.  

The soaring incidence of crashes and high road fatality rates dominate the headlines and give rise to fervent public debate. But, then, road safety awareness fades away. Until the next horrific crash.  

At the South African National Roads Agency (SOC) Limited (SANRAL), road safety is a consistent priority.  

We take our responsibility for it very seriously. Our primary duty is to manage and maintain the country’s freeway network, but within this mandate road safety is one of the key pillars of our business.  

South Africa subscribes to the modern global approach to road safety.  

Known as the “safe systems” approach, it recognises that we can best achieve our objective to reduce fatalities by integrating safer roads, safer vehicles, more effective post-crash responses and sustained education and awareness campaigns.  

From a technology perspective, SANRAL is constantly innovating to manage some of the dominant causes of crashes related to speeding, overloading and unsafe driver behaviour. 

We recognise the fact that road users are human and that humans make mistakes. It is our responsibility to provide a forgiving road environment to minimise the impact of such behaviour. 

Through our education and awareness programmes, we endeavour to integrate road safety education into the curriculum of schools and to increasingly use technology and social media to encourage safe behaviour in all sectors of the population.  

This integrated approach is the bedrock of what we do, yet we are increasingly looking at technology to make our roads even safer than they are. 

This is an opinion piece by Skhumbuzo Macozoma, SANRAL CEO.