Barbara Creecy, MEC for Transport, has made South Africans aware of the increasing incidents of pedestrian road deaths, and this issue was covered in Paarl Post (30 January).
Pedestrian deaths account for over 40% of total road deaths. Diabolical!
Once again one has to look at the “carrot-and-stick approach”.
Educate the citizens from school level that jay walking (onwettige straatkruising) is a criminal offence and carries a R500 fine.
Once pedestrians are made aware of this, the law then needs to be enforced.
The fact that pedestrians are not obliged to carry IDs on them, making the issuing of fines an impossible task, is a feeble excuse not to enforce the law.
We are not a lawless society, we have more laws than most other countries.
Our laws are not enforced and that is what sets us apart.
Try jay walking in Japan or Germany and see what happens.
