MEDIA RELEASE
SANRAL and Northern Cape Government work together, all year round, for safer roads

Northern Cape, 10 December 2023 – While the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL) pledges to keep roads safe during the festive season, its commitment to safer roads, in collaboration with the Northern Cape Government, goes way beyond the end of the year.

“There is a marked increase in long-distance traffic over the festive season, warranting more resources deployed to road safety. However, our joint operations and road safety initiatives are in place all year long,” said Randall Cable, SANRAL’s Western Region Manager.

To accommodate increased holiday traffic volumes, all conventional construction work will cease on Thursday, 14 December, until the second week in January 2024. The Routine Road Maintenance (RRM) teams will however remain on standby throughout the holiday period, as they are part of the first responders in the event of any incidents on the national road network.

“Through the Road Incident Management System (RIMS), our RRM teams will be working throughout the festive season to respond to any incident on the roads, assist with road closures and reopening of the road once an incident is cleared,” said Cable.
Some of the RIMS in the Northern Cape is managed through Centralised Communication Centres (CCCs), from where information is dispatched to the relevant unit, to ensure a coordinated and highly effective response, based on the nature of the incident.
• Kimberley (053 833 9264/9290)
• De Aar (053 631 0860/0088 or 073 996 8036)
• Kuruman (053 712 0457/0599 or 087 759 2154)
• Upington (054 337 9700 or 087 759 2153)

Road users may also make use of the South African Police Service (SAPS) emergency number, 10111 or the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) number, 10177.

Location marker boards (or blue marker boards, as they are commonly called) are located every 200m on national routes. These boards give the name of the route, i.e. N7, N10 or N12, the particular section of the road, and the kilometer distance.

“Find your closest board and note the details so that the operator is able to direct the response team to an accurate location,” said Cable.
The road is a shared space to be used responsibly by all road users. SANRAL urges all road users to adhere to the rules of the road and to also ensure that their vehicles are fit for the journey.

“We are still seeing too many serious and fatal crashes caused mainly by poor driver behaviour and choices. These include drunk driving and walking, distracted drivers, speeding, dangerous overtaking and driver fatigue. I do believe that with every individual making a conscious decision to do the right thing, and being the change that we want to see on our roads, we can have a chain reaction of becoming more conscious and more vigilant road users, all committed to putting an end to unnecessary loss of lives on our roads,” said Cable.