RAF launches Junior Traffic Training Centre to enhance road safety for children
The Road Accident Fund (RAF), in partnership with the eThekwini Transport Authority, has handed over South Africa’s first Junior Traffic Training Centre (JTTC) to Entuthukweni Primary School in Lamontville, Durban, as part of ongoing efforts to curb child-related road accidents.
The handover, which took place on Thursday, 16 October 2025, marks a milestone in the RAF’s Comprehensive Road Safety Programme for Learners and Youth, launched in 2023 to promote safer road behaviour among young pedestrians and passengers.
According to the RAF, the JTTC will provide learners with practical education on how to use roads safely within a controlled environment that mimics real-life traffic setups, including intersections and pedestrian crossings. It will also be open to neighbouring schools in the area.
RAF Head of Corporate Communication, McIntosh Polela, said the project was designed to address the growing number of road fatalities involving children in South Africa.
“The objective of the JTTC is to increase road safety awareness, change behaviours, prevent road crashes and save the lives of learners when using the road,” said Polela. “The Fund has developed road safety initiatives and programmes aimed at changing attitudes and behaviours of road users. Our goal is to influence the impressionable minds of learners in the hopes of fewer accidents for South Africa in the future.”
Entuthukweni Primary School was selected for the pilot project after the area was identified as an accident-prone zone during a 2023 assessment of high-risk areas. The RAF said the Lamontville community and nearby schools would benefit from access to the training facility.
Statistics from the RAF show that, between 2018 and 2022, an average of 827 children aged between five and 14 were killed on South African roads each year. Of these fatalities, 66% were pedestrians, while 33% were passengers.
The Department of Basic Education estimates that 67% of the country’s 13.5 million schoolchildren walk to school daily, while about two million use scholar transport.
The RAF said the JTTC forms part of a broader series of initiatives that include the distribution of scholar patrol uniforms, defensive driver workshops for scholar transport drivers, and road safety education programmes for youth.
Throughout the year, the Fund also runs tyre safety workshops, cyclist safety programmes, and road safety training in collaboration with various stakeholders.