Crackdown on ‘cancerous’ public transport

The bus accident on the N1 near Hammanskraal which killed five passengers and left 30 seriously injured. The bus left the road after a front tyre burst. Photo: Etienne Creux

The bus accident on the N1 near Hammanskraal which killed five passengers and left 30 seriously injured. The bus left the road after a front tyre burst. Photo: Etienne Creux

Published Sep 1, 2011

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Transport minister S’bu Ndebele has ordered law enforcement officials to stop and inspect every public transport vehicle “with immediate effect” after yet another bus accident – this time in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday evening – which killed 11 passengers.

The crash brought the death toll from accidents involving public transport vehicles to 73 for August.

“This is out of hand. We have instructed law enforcement agencies to stop and check every public transport vehicle, including buses, taxis and scholar transport vehicles, across the country with immediate effect,” the minister announced on Wednesday.

The Transport Department says there are 214 national, 5 523 provincial and 11 380 municipal traffic officers. Police ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi said they would have the full backing of the 132 000-strong police service, since the Road Traffic Act gave all police officers traffic law enforcement authority.

“We support the minister’s call because road safety and saving lives is everybody’s role. We have the resources, manpower and capability and the minister’s call can be achieved through an integrated approach,” said Mnisi. “We also need to emphasise that not only will we arrest the wrongdoers, but we shall work with our sister ministry (Justice and Constitutional Development) in calling for stiffer sentences for these perpetrators.”

Accurate figures for the number of registered taxis, buses and scholar transport vehicles are hard to come by, but according to the Transport Department, as at December 2009 there were 282 941 registered minibus taxis and 45 212 registered buses.

Ndebele said September would be dedicated to “public transport enforcement” and a recent meeting with senior traffic officials and the nine transport MECs had identified five priority areas that must be “urgently addressed”: improving accident data collection; concluding service-level agreements between provinces and municipal-run licensing centres to meet minimum standards; stepping up anti drunk-driving enforcement; investigating corruption and poor service delivery at licensing centres, and 24-hour traffic law enforcement.

Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) acting chief executive Collins Letsoalo declared war on the “cancerous behaviour” of “unscrupulous bus operators”, saying bus companies would find inspectors at their depots and vehicle storage facilities searching for unroadworthy vehicles.

“It is not acceptable that we keep on losing the lives of innocent people unnecessarily. We are going to arrest the operators where our investigations indicate mechanical failures resulting from negligence in maintenance… Roadworthiness certificates belong to us and we won’t hesitate to revoke them.”

Most bus accidents were caused by unroadworthiness, overloading and tyre bursts. As of today, all municipalities would be required to report to the RTMC on steps they had taken to reduce road accidents.

Ndebele has told parliament that most taxi passenger deaths are in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, where there were the most crashes last year.

Recent fatal accidents involving buses, taxis or scholar transport vehicles include:

* August 30: 11 killed and 27 injured when a bus overturned on the R61 near Aberdeen, Eastern Cape;

* August 30: Five killed and 52 injured when a bus heading for Zimbabwe overturned near Murrayhill toll plaza, Gauteng;

* August 24: 15 killed and 44 injured when a scholar transport bus – licensed to carry 32 passengers, but crammed with 58 scholars – crashed into a river near Knysna, Western Cape;

* August 22: Nine killed and 32 seriously injured in a collision between a bus and a truck on the N3 near Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal;

* August 19: One killed and two injured when a bakkie and a taxi collided head-on near Seabe Village, Mpumalanga;

* August 18: One killed and 12 injured when a taxi crashed into a road barrier in Newlands, KwaZulu-Natal;

* August 15: Three killed and 13 injured when a taxi overturned on the R102 near Durban.

* August 11: 11 killed and eight injured when a taxi collided head-on with a truck near Mandeni, KwaZulu-Natal;

* August 6: 10 killed and 32 injured when a bus crashed into taxi making a U-turn on the N3 near Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal;

* August 6: Six killed when a taxi driver lost control of his vehicle near Golden Gate, Free State;

* August 6: One killed and another injured in a head-on collision between a taxi and a bakkie in Boksburg, Gauteng.

At least 73 die in bloody month of accidents

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