2025
Index
4th Inter Ministerial Road Safety Conference. Marrakesh, Morocco
Discussions at the AVIRT Study Meeting 18 March 2025
Rethink Your Drink Relaunch Business Breakfast
United Nations Global Road Safety Week 12th – 16th May 2025
Interview with Ashraf Garda on SAFM
September 2025 – Wireless Road Update
Festive Season January 2025
Over the Festive Season: We were very involved with giving our recommendations on how to bring down our very preventable road deaths, how to run drink driving campaigns and asking for road crashes to be classed
as a National Disaster.
Here are some of Caro Smits interviews & newspaper articles
- 6 Jan 2025. Newsroom Afrika TV Vuyo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABJaF1ujKsQ
- 7 January 2025 https://t.co/GuBV8vuNWO
- 9 January 2025 IOL on line https://t.co/hXc5RiH1qO
- 20 January 2025 SAFM https://t.co/F2ZwyKlrin
- 30 January 2025 IOL online https://bit.ly/40AVIUg
- 31 January 2025 eNCA TV http://bit.ly/3EiCtai
4th Inter Ministerial Road Safety Conference. Marrakesh, Morocco
Caro Smit attended this important 4th Inter Ministerial Road Safety Conference in Marrakesh Morocco, with 5 000 delegates from around the world 17- 20th February 2025, including 65 members of the Global Alliance of NGO’s Advocating for Road Safety & Road Victims.
The theme of the conference was #CommitToLife. Here world safety experts looked at solutions, and shared experiences/projects to stop these deaths/injuries.
The statistics are shocking. 1.19m people die & 20-50 m are injured ANNUALLY on the world roads. A large focus was on Africa, sharing facts & evidence based-solutions. Africa is especially impacted by crashes, & too little attention is given these very preventable deaths/injuries. We have 3% of the world’s roads, yet account for 19% of the world’s deaths. In SA that’s 24.5 per 100 000. Totally heart-breaking.
SADD together with, and as a member of the IRVP- International Road Victims Partnership – fought for the rights of victims to be included at the Conference. After repeated requests the Conference was opened with:
a) 1 Minutes silence to acknowledge and remember the victims and their families,
b) we were able to have a stall in the Exhibition Hall &
c) the #MarrakeshDecalaration recognized the effect crashes make on victims’ families, and road crash Victims Organizations were acknowledged as having a role to play to raise awareness and stimulate actions to bring down deaths/injuries on the roads.
Dr Etienne Krug from WHO thanked the victims organizations for our brave work
Caro Smit cycled with the youth from YOURS-Youth In Road Safety- to highlight the fact that we need to make cycling safe, and to have #StreetForAll. Great emphasis was also placed on making the roads safer for pedestrians & the need to make walking safe.
Discussions at the AVIRT Study Meeting 18 March 2025
Experts who were involved with this study and 2 NGO’s (ChildSafe & SADD) attended this meeting.
It was agreed that the burden of alcohol abuse is increasing in SA, with the already overburdened Emergency Department trauma clinicians seeing an escalation in alcohol related injuries, all week long now, and not just over the weekends. These injuries result from road traffic crashes (including pedestrians),intentional and unintentional injuries from violence such as stabbings, GBV, gun shots, etc., as well as from self harm.
It was felt that this should be seen as a National Health Emergency. Many of these patients are repeat offenders, and it results in a great loss to our GDP, as well as emotional and financial trauma and burden to families and individuals.
Possible solutions would be
- extra trained staff and tools being made available to test for alcohol abuse in the ED’s,
- doing Brief Interventions at the Hospitals, and
- more alcohol treatment centres (both In Patient and Out Patient) with highly trained staff, being built in SA.
SADD’s Manual “Drs Manual for Emergency Units and Hospitals” is available, via the Contact page.
Rethink Your Drink Relaunch Business Breakfast
27th March 2025 attended DG Murray Trust: Rethink Your Drink Relaunch Business Breakfast, an exclusive event bringing together key stakeholders to discuss impactful solutions for reducing alcohol harm in South Africa.
A summary will follow shortly
ChildSafe Seminar
1st April 2025. Attended the ChildSafe Seminar advocating for 30km outside school zones, together with RTMC and City of Cape Town Transport Officials.
A summary will follow shortly
United Nations Global Road Safety Week 12th – 16th May 2025
The 8th UN Global Road Safety Week (UNGRSW) was held from May 12-18, 2025, focusing on making walking and cycling safe, with the theme “Streets for Life”. The week aimed to spur action at national and local levels to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists, highlighting specific interventions by various stakeholders.
- Why: Walking and cycling are an integral part of the multimodal transport systems advocated in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2020-2030
- Promoting and supporting policies on walking and cycling is cost-effective.
- Target:To reduce road traffic deaths and injuries, particularly among pedestrians and cyclists. Pedestrians and cyclists make up nearly half of all road traffic deaths in South Africa.
- When walking and cycling are safe, these modes of transport can contribute to making people healthy, cities sustainable, and societies equitable.
- Call to Action:Take concrete actions to improve road safety for vulnerable road users, including pedestrians and cyclists.
- Proven evidence-based measures must be taken to make walking and cycling safe. It mentions:
- safe road design: dedicated walking and cycling lanes, sidewalks, crosswalks, and roadway lighting;
- safe speeds: speed limits set at maximum 30 km/h (20 mph) in cities and strong enforcement of these limits;
- safe vehicles: emergency braking systems, electronic stability control, in-vehicle technology systems that detect pedestrians and cyclists and crash-protective vehicle fronts;
- safe behaviours: as drivers, avoiding speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and distracted driving, and comprehensive laws and law enforcement around these behaviours; and
- timely, lifesaving emergency care.
As an NGO SADD arranged and took part in these activities.
12th May 2025 #MakeCyclingSafe event in Kommetjie, Cape Town
14th May 2025 #MakeWalkingSafe event in Woodstock Cape Town with Amathuba Collective, YOURS (Youth in road safety) Young Urbanists, and head of NMT (non-motorised transport) CoCT, Dirk du Preez
16th May 2025 #MakeCyclingSafe event in Ocean View, Cape Town, with the Fresh Start Cycling Club.
Posters on pedestrian safety and UNGRSW left with Kommetjie Primary School and Ocean View Primary School
Interview with Ashraf Garda on SAFM – 16th July
Mandela Day
Mandela Day – 18th July.
SADD invited the Western Cape Transport Department to hand out visibility belts to cyclists and walkers for Mandela Day. MEC Isaac Sileku and staff joined us for 67 minutes to #MakeCyclingSafe and #MakeWalkingSafe
August
15th August eNCA.
Caro Smit talks to Gareth Edwards from eNCA about our unacceptable road carnage, and gives some insights and solutions
20th August 2025. Cape Town
Attended, commented, gave feedback and our ideas on what changes need to be made to the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030 review process.
To get different results and lower our very preventable road carnage, we need to change our approach.
We need less emphasis on road safety education in schools and more emphasis on lowering speed limits, more traffic calming measures, more alcohol testing (as well as at every road block) and working with the whole of Parliament, (and especially Dept of Justice so we get more DUI convictions)
Road safety needs to be seen as a priority as its costing our Government and people too much in lost revenue, emotional and financial hardships.
We asked for a progress report on the Dept of Transport signing the African Road Safety Charter, and lowering speeds to 100 km and 50/40 and 30 km in urban areas.
September
Wireless road, Kommetjie project continuation.
(A Mobility toolkit project with the Global Alliance of Road Safety NGOs) #MakeCyclingSafe #MakeWalkingSafe #StreetsForLife
Thank you very much to the City of Cape Town, for paying for the upgrading of these safety features at the Wireless and Riverside road intersection. Larger STOP signs, 2 warning STOP signs ahead and lines designating where pedestrians cross at all 3 intersections.
The City of Cape Town approved the 4 way STOP along Wireless rd, and this was paid for by the contractor and developer. Grateful thanks to Lanser and Red Cliff.
After working and advocating for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists moving between Kommetjie and Ocean View for over 2 years with the community, CoCT, Councillor and developer, the project has been passed! A 3m wide separated pavement has started to being built, and is paid for by the developer, Red Cliff and CoCT.
Attended meeting, and submitted input on the CoCT Traffic Calming Bill.
October
Walkway between Kommetjie and Ocean View updates and press releases.
Sustained advocacy driving progress towards safe streets in Cape Town
Alliance member South Africans Against Drunk Driving (SADD), together with the Alliance, has been following and highlighting the story of Shelwyn, a wheelchair user forced to share a busy Cape Town street with fast-moving vehicles due to the absence of evidence-based interventions to keep him safe. Through sustained advocacy, a major win has been achieved — construction has begun on a new 3 meter wide separated footpath and bicycle lane along this street, providing safe passage for pedestrians, cyclists, and vulnerable road users like Shelwyn.
This footpath will allow Shelwyn and others to move safely and with dignity, an outcome that shows how advocacy can translate into real, life-saving change. The win represents a major step forward for vulnerable road users whose needs are often overlooked in street design. It proves that when NGOs push for safe infrastructure, governments can respond with solutions that protect all road users.
To achieve this win, SADD persisted in its advocacy with government officials, engaged community members to amplify its advocacy, and used tools such as the Mobility Snapshots to gather data and show evidence of dangerous streets and how to make them safe. “We presented data and advocated with ward councillors, the mayor, property developers, and transport departments, and worked closely with the community to build local ownership,” says Caro Smit, Director and Founder, SADD, South Africa.
Despite this win, challenges persist, especially with convincing local authorities to be proactive and to quickly implement evidence-based measures, often due to limited investments, budgets, and lack of awareness, says Caro Smit. To address this, she emphasizes the need for investments and specific budgets for road safety, partnerships amongst stakeholders, and for the government to listen to NGOs and work with them to ensure safety on the road. “This will help to implement, sustain, and scale the implementation of evidence-based interventions that keep people safe.”
As we near the midpoint of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030, wins like this support achieving the ambitious targets set by the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030 (Global Plan) to halve road deaths and injuries by 2030. The plan assigns a vital role to NGOs: to act as independent voices that influence social change, strengthen the evidence base, and hold governments accountable. SADD’s success in Cape Town is a powerful example of this role in practice, showing how NGO advocacy can contribute to meaningful change for people and drive progress toward achieving the Global Plan targets.
“Every local intervention contributes to global progress. When governments act on evidence-based recommendations from NGOs, they help move the world closer to halving road deaths and injuries by 2030.”
November
14 – 18th November 2025. World Day of Remembrance of Road Crash Victims.
Caro attended and participated in the International Road Crash Victims Africa Conference – IRCVAC in Abuja, Nigeria, together with other road safety experts, victims and members of the Global Alliance of Road Safety NGO’s.
Caro cycled to promote safe cycling, did training to the Federal Road Safety Corps members and others, was on 2 panels on drink driving, did a candle light walk on the World Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims and participated in the unveiling and foundation laying of the new KRSD’s Trauma Centre. The Honorable Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, Court of Appeals and founder of Kwapdas’as Road Safety Demand- KRSD- in her sons honor, arranged this Conference, and raised the money for the Trauma centre to be built.
