Johannesburg - So you’re reading this, but your nerves are still a little rattled by the move a taxi pulled in front of you on your way to work this morning? Well here’s your chance for a bit of retribution.
It’s a road safety initiative called Hlokomela Taxi-Care which kicked off in July 2014, and allows motorists and taxi passengers the opportunity to anonymously report the behaviour of taxi drivers. According to the developers it’s the biggest road safety initiative yet launched in South Africa, with 189 000 taxis currently on our roads nationally.
The process involves the branding of taxis, inside and out, with Hlokomela Taxi-Care banners and unique-per-vehicle codes. Commuters inside will see one code, while motorists from the outside will see another. Reporting bad driving by either party is as simple as dialing *120*2273# followed by the relevant taxi code. You then leave your comments (compliments are also welcome!), the data gets fed to a central data centre and the information shared with the associations and owners.
“The ultimate aim is to make South African roads safer and taxi drivers more accountable for their actions.”
The Hlokomela Taxi-Care organisers assure us that drivers who are repeatedly reported for dangerous driving offences will be taken off the roads by their respective taxi associations and put through specific driver-training programs.
The initiative is backed by various corporate sponsors and aims to have 40 000 taxis branded by September 2015 – with the longer-term plan being to brand every taxi in South Africa. Stakeholders in the initiative include the South African National Taxi Council and ADD Uncapped. The initiative is endorsed by and will be part of the department of transport’s safety month in October. - Star Motoring
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