20 Jun 2019

Road safety remains critical in ensuring that roads are accident free and safe, says Department of Road Transport and Safety (DRTS) director, Mr Bokhutlo Modukanele.

 Speaking at the launch of DRTS open day in Letlhakeng recently, Mr Modukanele said the department offered important services that made road users ready for using the road.

The week-long initiative, which opened on Monday, gave customers an opportunity to get services nearer rather than having to travel long distances to Molepolole, he said. Services offered included vehicle registration and licensing, driver licensing and testing, free inspection of vehicles for road worthiness, inspection of public service vehicles for compliance and mobile children traffic school, he said.

Saying his was a customer-centric department, Mr Modukanele revealed that they were extending services to the Letlhakeng community and its peripheries. Mr Modukanele said through interactions with customers, the department sought feedback on all services rendered and ways of improving in order to offer effective and efficient service. He said the feedback would be analysed and some processes re-engineered to improve service delivery.

The director said he was aware of the challenges that residents of Letlhakeng and surrounding villages experienced to get services in Molepolole, including long queues and congestion, backlog in permit issuance, lawlessness by some public transport operators, inadequate public service vehicles and the long distances they had to travel. He assured customers that the department would attend to their concerns and strive towards attainment of its vision of providing efficient, effective and reliable as well as economically viable service. He applauded Letlhakeng Police Station for offering DRTS office space within their premises to conduct theory tests thus saving customers the cost of having to travel to Molepolole for the service.

The director said it was worrisome that lives continued to be lost due to road accidents. “Since the beginning of 2019 to date, we have lost around 181 people on our roads and in 2018 we lost 208 lives during the same period. These figures are alarming and disheartening,” he said. Mr Modukanele said DRTS would continue to come up with interventions and initiatives such as vehicle roadworthiness testing, public education campaigns as well as reviewing legislation in a bid to combat the scourge.

For his part, chief transport officer, Mr Peter Mahlakata said the activity was a way of reaching out to customers as some could not easily access services. In addition, he said it was an opportunity for customers to get education on road safety. It was also a way of improving the department’s visibility so that people could appreciate its work, he said.

In his welcome remarks, Letlhakeng’s Kgosi Tumelo Puleng expressed gratitude for the initiative, explaining that residents often travelled to Molepolole for services that they did not get due to long queues. He expressed worry over drunken driving and farmers’ failure to care for their animals, both of which caused road accidents. Giving a vote of thanks, sub council chairperson, Mr Thomas Batlhophi stressed the importance of defensive driving, caution and the discarding of the right of way attitude on the roads. Mr Batlhophi called for the resuscitation of road safety commemorations as they played an important role in road safety education. ENDS