To commemorate Transport Month, the South African Breweries (SAB) has collaborated with the Department of Transport and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMCS’s) to reduce road fatalities on the road.
SAB’s target is to reduce alcohol related road incidents and fatalities by 10% through key strategic partnerships with the Department of Transport, Road Traffic Management Corporation, Metro Police and United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
Furthermore, the business along with local policing authorities have throughout the years launched several Alcohol Evidence Centres (AECs) across the country to help curb incidences of drunk driving. These AECs ensure that law enforcement is able to not only test suspected drunk drivers and confirm their breath or blood alcohol limit using Evidentiary Breathalyser Alcohol Testing (EBAT) and blood tests using registered medical practitioners, but also ensure that the evidence collected during these processes are admissible in court.
At the beginning of 2019, SAB matched its verbal commitment to reducing road fatalities by contributing on average R10 million to maintaining and upgrading AECs across the country over a three-year period.
As a testament to AEC effectiveness, SAB launched its Pietermaritzburg AEC in April 2019, and has subsequently witnessed a 44% reduction in road fatalities in the area by November of that same year. In the five months between March and July of 2019, there were also more than 420 arrests in the area related to drinking and driving. More importantly, there were 70 successful prosecutions.
SAB’s AECs have been central to the implementation of the proposed Blood Alcohol Concentration 0% Bill and sets to reinforce the sentiment that individuals should not even have a single drink if they intend getting behind the wheel of a vehicle. AECs ensure that law enforcement is able to not only test suspected drunk drivers and confirm their breath or blood alcohol limit using Evidentiary Breathalyser Alcohol Testing (EBAT) and blood tests using registered medical practitioners, but also ensure that the evidence collected during these processes are admissible in court.
SAB will be having a number of regional activities to commemorate During Transport Month:
SAB will partner with the Free State Department Transport for a road activation in Sasolburg where we will focus on ensuring that roads are safe for all drivers between popular routes in the area.
In the Western Cape, we will partner with the provincial Department of Transport where long distance truck drivers using the N1 route Johannesburg and Cape Town will also receive care pack in Rietfontein area.
SAB is determined to stop drinking and driving on South African roads and help further reduce the number of drink-driving related injuries and deaths in the country. South Africans are encouraged to rise up as active citizens to make our roads safer, not only this transport month, but as a disciplined commitment to have #NoneForTheRoad
