South Africa’s Road Traffic Infringement Agency and the Department of Basic Education have agreeably announced that driving lessons will soon be included in the SA school curriculum. The two departments announced a partnership which includes extending driving lessons into high school curriculum and the Soshanguve East Secondary School, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said that the announcement was part of a long-term initiative to establish and enhance road safety by “skilling” drivers. This announcement follows Peters announcement that the transport department will settle for no nonsense against all traffic offenders which equally follows the department’s increase in the record of death occurrence.
Speaking on the department’s plan of including driving lessons in school curriculum, Peters said the provision of a driving simulators programme will be implemented during the 2017/18 financial year. “We also have the partnership with the Department of Basic Education to ensure the inclusion of road safety in the curriculum and the training of teachers. This essentially entails different aspects of road safety awareness which are intended to adequately skill new drivers,” Minister Peters said. “Formal education and training will remain important but we must also broaden our minds and find ways to include road safety messages into the wider curriculum, into mathematics and science, geography and civic education,” Minister Peters said, adding that the Transport department is in the process of finalising the Graduated Driving License framework. “We will work with department of justice to make sure that there is convictions,” Peters added.
Meanwhile, the Road Accident Fund (RAF) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Eugene Watson has called on government and SA transport department to do all it takes to reduce the overwhelming accident rate in the country. He said the scourge of car accidents and related fatalities have reached disturbing proportions and if not curbed it will place untold strain on South Africa. “The death of breadwinners, heads of families, and economically active youth at the threshold of their lives, as well as innocent young children and toddlers, weighs heavily on our country, sets society back and harms our economy,” Watson said in a statement. “To the millions of road users who remained alert while traveling, we thank you for heeding the RAF’s call to stay safe.”
He said that drunken driving, speeding, un-roadworthy vehicles, fatigue, overtaking on barrier lines, and failure to wear visible clothing at night were some of the main causes for road deaths.
Read more: http://buzzsouthafrica.com/sa-to-include-driving-lessons-in-school-curriculum/
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