Implementation is everything when it comes to road safety

The Times Editorial : The December holiday road accident death toll was about 200 by yesterday- well down on the 550 reported deaths of the corresponding period last year.

Though the figure is still horrifically high, the early evidence suggests that the intensive campaigning by our transport authorities, combined with a high-profile clampdown on wayward drivers by traffic police, might just be beginning to pay dividends.

We would do well to learn from the experience of countries such as Australia and the UK, where traffic officers are highly visible, offenders face severe penalties and, thanks to intensive media campaigns, there is little public sympathy for dodgy drivers.

Initial indications are that our authorities are beginning to devise effective strategies to combat road hogs. Over the past few months, we have seen the launch of the ''Make Roads Safe'' campaign, and of a national enforcement plan that, in October alone, resulted in more than a million vehicles and drivers being stopped, checked and offenders fined.

The envisaged countrywide implementation of Aarto (Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences), which lays down stringent penalties for reckless and negligent driving - including the suspension of an offender's licence - and for motorists who fail to pay their fines, will also help to curb the cowboy mentality of too many drivers.

But, as with all official interventions, the success of the new regulations will depend on how effectively they are implemented.

Corruption remains a major problem - yesterday's report in the Sunday Times that an investigation has been launched into more than 50 vehicle-testing stations that have issued over 20000 fraudulent roadworthy certificates suggests that Transport Minister S'bu Ndebele has a mountain to climb.