Arrive Alive: More than just a slogan for the Festive season

08 February 2018 | From Arrive Alive


In light of recent media on the Arrive Alive Campaign and comments made by the RTMC it is only appropriate that we share some fact on the Online Initiative.

As a wise man once said "Look after the Facts.. Justice will look after itself"

Media Release by Justice Project SA: Arrive Alive – Why try to “kill” something you’ve applied for a trademark on?

JOHANNESBURG – Recent announcements that the Arrive Alive campaign has been ditched have culminated in the RTMC attempting to justify this move by saying “the Road Traffic Management Corporation cannot use the Arrive Alive campaign anymore, as it has been registered as a brand”. Yesterday, News24 quoted RTMC spokesperson, Simon Zwane as saying “it was registered as a brand earlier this year, but [he] could not say by whom”.

This is rather puzzling, given the fact that a search of registered trademarks through the CIPC website has revealed that it was none other than the RTMC itself who applied to register the Arrive Alive logo under the trademark number 2014/10100. This was apparently applied for on 16 April 2014, accepted on 24 August 2015 and advertised on 28 October 2015.

Apart from that of the RTMC, no other registration applications to trademark “Arrive Alive” or anything similar appear to have been made or granted.

In the same article, Mr Zwane also claimed that this year’s festive season campaigns had been running since 26 November, but it would appear that he is confusing a road safety campaign with the National Rolling Enforcement Programme (NREP) system of prolific countrywide roadblocks which is traditionally launched to much fanfare for the festive season in November of every year.

There is more to conducting a proper and effective road safety campaign than calling it the “365 Days of Road Safety Programme” Mr Zwane claims has replaced the Arrive Alive campaign. Whilst it is most certainly true that road safety should be a 365 days a year initiative, this so-called “new campaign” doesn’t even have a website, let alone appear to have gained much exposure.

The RTMC’s other failed road safety campaign introduced in 2012, called “Get There – No Regrets” was canned in November 2014. Since then, its Twitter account has done nothing other than send out an automated weekly Twitter application tweet “How I did on Twitter this week” to its now 2,112 followers, amongst whom is the Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters.

In the meantime, Advocate Johan Jonck’s privately run arrivealive.co.za website, for which no funding whatsoever is provided by government, and the @_ArriveAlive Twitter account have been issuing prolific daily road safety messages as they have done for more than 13 years now.

Just why it is that the RTMC and government have actively chosen not to work with and assist this private initiative is beyond reason, especially in light of the fact that the @_ArriveAlive Twitter account has more than 64,000 followers and arrivealive.co.za is about to hit 1 million visitor sessions for this year.

What’s even more puzzling and exceedingly sad is how the National Department of Transport could have openly acknowledged the importance of the arrivealive.co.za website in 2007 and repeatedly since then, but now it and its State Owned Corporation, the RTMC seems hell-bent on shutting it down, or at the very least, deflecting attention away from it, even if that means sneakily applying for a trademark and then misleading the media and the public about its knowledge of who applied for that “branding”.

Howard Dembovsky

National Chairman - Justice Project South Africa (NPC)

Comments from the Arrive Alive Website

It is not strange that the RTMC is not "using" the Arrive Alive brand - they also previously launched their own “Get here No Regrets Campaign” in 2012. Only they can account for the taxpayer money spent on that campaign and the success or failure of the campaign which for some reason was stopped at the end of last year…

We have worked tirelessly since the launch of the Arrive Alive website in 2003 on instilling the message to Arrive Alive in the minds of the South African road user and done our best to use social media to this effect. This has been done to Support the Arrive Alive Campaign by the Department of Transport started as early as 1998…

What cannot be explained however is the need for the RTMC to register a trademark of something to which the Department of Transport should be the “bona fide proprietor” and then to say the RTMC may not use the brand because it is “copyrighted”.

Especially at this time of year we do not wish to argue and point blame as the focus needs to be on creating more informed road users by using all available platforms to distribute road safety messages to a wider audience. The families of all those who have died in road crashes deserve that those with the power to do so do everything in their power to make our roads safer. We simply cannot advocate road safety and take part in a Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims and then not give it 100% of our effort!

We need to be transparent and able to account for all our actions – if those mandated to make roads safer through education and raising road safety awareness are not doing so or are withholding the truth form the public or lying about their true intentions it will be shameful and disgraceful!

Adv Johan Jonck

Editor of the ArriveAlive Website

President Jacob Zuma calls on South Africans to Arrive Alive 2015

Video of President Jacob Zuma urging South Africans to be safe and responsible on the roads this festive season and to Arrive Alive.

 

Question about the Arrive Alive Website in Parliament 18 February 2010

Arrive Alive Online Infographic 2015

Also view:

Arrive Alive Online Report 2014

Arrive Alive.co.za reflects on a Decade of Road Safety Awareness Online

Share This Page

Tell a friend icon Tell a Friend | Fax machine icon Print this Page

News Articles

19 Feb 2025 | From Arrive Alive
The Provincial Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (PROVJOINTS) made up of various government departments and security forces, led by the South African Police Service (SAPS), would like to warn the public and motorists to be extra cautious following torrential rains across the Province. The
19 Feb 2025 | From Arrive Alive
Earlier this morning, just after 7 am, Mi7 National Group's Emergency Medical Services was dispatched after reports of a Motor Vehicle Accident in the Cato Ridge area. Several teams, including ambulances based at Hibiscus Hospital Cato Ridge, were sent to the scene. Mi7 medics found that two
19 Feb 2025 | From Arrive Alive
The South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL) would like to notify travellers of the erection of 16m long precast concrete poles along the N2 between Bay West/Hunters Retreat Interchange and Samantha/Linton Grange Interchange, starting on Thursday, 20th February 2025. This first portion
19 Feb 2025 | From Arrive Alive
Motor Vehicle Crash (MVC): N2 Northbound after EB Cloete – Left lane obstructed. Expect delays and drive carefully in the area. WEATHER NOTICE: Rain is affecting roads across Durban. Please reduce speed, turn on headlights, and keep a safe following distance. Durban Metro Police Service are
19 Feb 2025 | From Arrive Alive
IPSS Medical Rescue and IPSS S&R Tongaat responded to reports of vehicle that had rolled on the N2 just before Ballito. The accident left 6 people injured, with injuries ranging from minor to critical. The critically injured patient was intubated and placed on ventilator while being stabilised
19 Feb 2025 | From Arrive Alive
Three patients sustained moderate injuries in a severe crash on Alpine and Umgeni Road on Tuesday evening. KZN VIP paramedics rushed to the scene, where they found two vehicles extensively damaged. Paramedics stabilized the patients on site before transporting them to medical facilities for further
19 Feb 2025 | From Arrive Alive
Heavy rain has left most roads slippery and some flooded throughout the province. This includes the following roads that are temporarily closed: •R510 road between Thabazimbi and Northam •D1235 road between Northam and Brits Please use alternative routes and follow these guidelines
19 Feb 2025 | From Arrive Alive
This afternoon, our rangers responded to a group of hikers along the Platteklip Gorge trail who ran out of water and provided them with the necessary assistance. Cape Town has been issued with an orange - red fire risk warning coupled with extreme heat and near gale-force wind conditions. Safety
19 Feb 2025 | From Arrive Alive
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) Springs Officers, responded to a collision on Tonk Meter road involving ten school children in the Springs area. A scholar transport carrying ten school children was involved in a collision with a Hyundai Getz. According to an eye witness, it

News Archive