5 Year Overview

5 Year Overview of the Arrive Alive Website

On the 13th of March 2008 we celebrate 5 years since the launch of the Arrive Alive Road Safety Website March 2003. It is the correct time to reflect on the development of the site during this time, successes achieved and also to give recognition to those who have made these efforts possible.

It is with deep gratitude that I compile this summary, and if I may, I would like to recognize the memory of my late mother who passed away in a car accident and who is part of the inspiration for the development of the website, as well as my father who have since passed away in 2007 and who has been supportive to the cause!

Brief historical overview of the Arrive Alive web site

The web site was launched on the 13th of March 2003 as a private initiative to assist the Department of Transport in enhancing awareness of road safety. 

In November 2003 the developers was requested to add the official arrive alive logo to the web site by the official branding company of the Arrive Alive campaign.

The web site has since been developed as a private public partnership with the Department of Transport providing all the statistical data  - and with online reports delivered to the Call Centre at the Department of Transport.

The major challenges to the development have always been time and financial constraints. It is our vision to have full time developers dedicated to the development of the web site.

Creating awareness via the web site

• The Arrive Alive Road Safety Website has been recognized as a credible information portal on all aspects of road safety.
• Not only has permission been sought for reproduction of content by South African authors and publications – but also from numerous international publications.
• Hard work and commitment to the creation of the best quality of content has resulted in high visibility of the Arrive Alive website on international search engines.

On-line exposure to content from the Arrive Alive Website

• Website analytics have been used to provide information on visitor behavior and this has assisted the developers to design new strategies on aspects to be addressed.
• Google Analytics has provided confirmation that in the last year, since March 2007, visitors to the website has come from 446 different referring sources / websites. 
• Visitors have been referred via prominent websites such as News 24, IOL, Info.gov.za,  SABCnews, SouthAfrica.info, Moneyweb, ITWeb, BizCommunity, ITInews, CapeGateway, 5FM, etc

Exposure to content from the Arrive Alive Website in Publications

• Magazines:
  Including:  Huisgenoot, You, Drum, Glamour, Femina. Men’s Health, Car Magazine etc
• Newspapers
  Including: Sunday Times, Rapport, Citizen, Sowetan, Beeld, Die Burger, Volksblad etc
• TV and radio
  Including: Felicia Show, the Big Question, Radio FM, RSG etc
• Company Newsletters
  Numerous road safety messages have been included in Company Newsletters, Circulars etc

Interaction with the public and new development

• More than 2500 e-mails have been received via the “Contact Us” section - these have been responded to and forwarded to the Department of Transport for further comment.
• A section was created called “Ask the Experts” on the Discussion Forum to provide expert advice to members of the public on technical questions.
• A "Call Centre Section" has been created on the website enabling the public to register as Voluntary Public Traffic Observers and to report bad driving from the website to the National Traffic Call Centre at the RTMC.
• Interaction with the public has been enhanced through the launch of a Road Safety and Arrive Alive Blog at www.roadsafety.wordpress.com at the end of February 2007.
• Since that time more than 350 blog posts have been made on this Blog.
• Contributions on road safety posts have also been made on a Road Safety Blog on News24 and CarBlog.
• An ArriveAlive.co.za Group has been created on Facebook to stimulate further discussion and interaction.

Recognition to those who have made this possible

During the past 5 years we have discovered that there has been much goodwill amongst road safety authorities and enthusiasts and I would like to express my appreciation to:

• The Department of Transport, the Road Traffic Management Corporation and other Road Safety Authorities and NGO’s promoting road safety for supplying content and media releases
• The Chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Transport, Jeremy Cronin, for his words of inspiration
• Owners and developers of prominent web sites and Blogs who have assisted in the wider distribution of the materials included on the Arrive Alive web site

A special word of appreciation to the Corporate sponsors who have made possible the development of the Arrive Alive Website:

- Volkswagen SA
- Outsurance
- Netcare 911
- Digicore
- BHP Billiton
- Clear Vision Optometrists
- Puisano Business Development
- mCubed
- Precision Safety Appliances

I would also like to express my gratitude towards Nelio, the programmers and graphic designers at Chillies Internet who have shared my enthusiasm and spent many hours on the development of the website.

The development of the content would not have been possible without the kind assistance of many professionals in different fields of expertise. I would like to express my gratitude to these individuals who have offered their time and expertise to assist road users by making available information on the Arrive Alive website.

The way forward:

We will continue to do more, to work harder and to assist in creating awareness of road safety.

Development in new technology requires that we use this technology in our efforts to facilitate public interaction.

Road deaths in South Africa require cooperation between many different entities – and the Arrive Alive Road Safety website will do everything to provide on-line road safety education.

In these efforts we will do our utmost to cooperate with Government and the private sector and keep recognizing the kind assistance of those who share our vision!

We will also assist other road safety activists in creating awareness of road safety and will shortly launch such an initiative in Nigeria.