‘Safeway’ will reduce road deaths – traffic chief

Traffic Chief Neil Semple said although many drivers continue to flout the traffic laws he is optimistic that ‘Operation Safeway’ will boost the department’s enforcement capacity and reduce the number of road deaths.

“Since the year started we have only had one fatality while the same period last year we had three. So, this year we will be focusing on more enforcement because this issue has to be addressed,” the Government Information Agency quoted Semple as saying.

In 2006 there were 140 accidents and 154 road deaths. In 2007 there were 167 and 205 deaths. Since the implementation of ‘Operation Safeway’ more than 4,000 traffic tickets have been issued and 14,000 cases made against defaulting drivers. Of the lot 8,000 cases have been successfully prosecuted and about 6,000 are pending in the courts.

Semple also said the department will be focusing on training and capacity building. “We will be having several training courses throughout the year