In October 1999, the South African and Dutch Ministers of Transport signed a protocol on bilateral co-operation in the field of transport and infrastructure development. The South African Netherlands Transport Forum (SANTF) was establish to drive the co-operative programmes. One of the projects identified through SANTF was to invite the Dutch government to undertake an audit of the new accident reporting system and also to identify the road safety information needs of the different levels of government to ensure sound road safety management and operations. The audit team consists of two Dutch and two South African experts. During the last week of November 2000, the team visited the SAPS and a number of local/metropolitan and provincial traffic authorities, the National Department of Transport (NaTIS), the Road Accident Fund and other organisations to interview them in order to assess the structural and operational aspects of the accident reporting system. The team also obtained information on the road safety information needs that each of these organisations require to manage and conduct their operations more effectively. A stakeholders workshop was arranged for 1 December 2000. The audit team provided feedback of their preliminary findings and draft recommendations regarding the accident report system. Furthermore, the audit team also discussed the road safety information needs as identified by the different levels of government. The workshop served as a soundboard for the audit team to finalise their recommendations. (A)
Abstract