Hi Folks...

Sometimes the challenges associated with driving on South African roads seem to be overwhelming. To offset this somewhat myopic perspective it pays to look at bigger - emerging markets - such as China which sells some 20 million plus vehicles annually and what is done there to deal with issues of road safety.

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BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Local governments have been asked to take measures to improve road safety, especially in rural areas, according to a circular issued recently.

The circular, issued by the State Council General Office, demanded local governments finish removing dangers on roads, especially on the 30,000-kilometer rural roads with passenger transport and school buses, by the end of 2015.

It called for a significant improvement on road safety infrastructure and capability of road safety protection by the end of 2020.

An over-all clearance of existent hidden dangers, improvement of standards of road safety facilities, and enough investment are needed for the campaign, read the circular.

Local governments' performance of the work should be evaluated and relative officials will be punished if they fail to meet the goals, and as a result it causes heavy casualties and serious economic losses, the circular said.

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Comforting in a way I suppose but never the less quite daunting when one considers the implications of misdirected – or even worse – no attention to road safety.

The world average of road fatalities averages around 1500 per day so any effort to reduce same is of far reaching importance - we trust that in SA we can expect more in this regard.

Till next time - Drive Safe and think – the enormity of our challenge is significantly less than that of other countries – don’t give up.

Eugene Herbert

Group Managing Director