You might have seen a few tweets and instagram posts over this weekend with the hashtag #DriveConscious. Local celebrities have taken the pledge to Drive Conscious this April.

Celebrities include:

Natasha Thorp
Pabi Moloi
Melanie Ramjee
Jay Anstey
Stacey Holland
Maps Maponyane
Moneoa
Batsile Ramasodi
Lesego Maphanga
Bianca Le Grange
Jonathan Boynton-Lee
Carmel Fisher
Weza Solange
Michalea Russel
Wardah Hartley
Vic Naidoo

The, #DriveConscious campaign, is the brainchild of SABC news anchor, Natasha Thorp and her team at Jarred Doyle Consulting.

Every day, we lose people to road deaths. And this year alone, barely three months in, we have lost well known personalities to road accidents, including, the much loved Public Service and Administration Minister, Collins Chabane; legendary Umhlobo Wenene FM Presenter, Saba Mbixane and of course, our beloved Simba Mhere.
Natasha, has been a victim of a road accident herself and without fail, reads at least one story during her news bulletins on air, involving road carnage; at least once a day, she reads of more carnage on our roads.
Passionate to see a significant change, we have decided to make a conscious difference to the way South African’s drive and respond to daily driving habits.
The campaign is therefore, to create awareness that certain habits and ways in which we drive are dangerous to ourselves and other users on the roads.

The Campaign statistics:

118 fatal road accidents were recorded between December 1 and January 5 and 1,368 fatalities.

Men contributed 75 percent to the total fatalities
Women contributed 22 percent

The top three age groupings killed on our roads were:

– Aged between 25 and 29 (12 percent)

– 30 and 34, (13 percent)
– 35 and 39 (9 percent)

Passenger age groups:

– Aged between 20 and 24 (6 percent)
– 25 and 29 (8 percent)
– 30 and 34 (7 percent)
Pedestrian age groups:

– Aged between 20 and 24 (6 percent)
– 25 and 29 (8 percent)
– 30 and 34 (7 percent)