Durban - A pointsman and a metro police vehicle were insufficient deterrents to prevent the deaths of three teenagers on Wednesday when a taxi ploughed into them as they stood on a pavement.
As anger and calls for calm, speed humps and more pedestrian bridges grew, metro police senior superintendent Parboo Sewpersad said it had identified the intersection along Dumisani Makhaye Drive in Newlands East as an area of concern.
“There was a pointsman and a metro police vehicle to help children cross the road. It’s a hot spot. It is also one of our areas of concern because of the intersection. We have been receiving reports,” Sewpersad said.
He said bad behaviour of the drivers of both public and private transport had been noticed.
“It all comes down to driver behaviour and attitude. These children would have been our future assets, but they were taken out by an errant driver,” he said.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane said the taxi driver was charged with three counts of culpable homicide, and he was expected to appear in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court soon.
Officials said the schoolgirls’ deaths highlighted driver behaviour and the lack of infrastructure on that road and other areas such as Cornubia, where pupils cross busy freeways.
Mayor Zandile Gumede called for calm after community members blocked the road after the accident and demanded the installation of speed humps.
“I am optimistic that our law enforcement officers will do everything possible to bring the perpetrator to book. I will take it upon myself that the process of installing speed humps in the area is expedited,” Gumede said.
Deputy mayor Fawzia Peer, who heads the security and emergency committee, said Mxolisi Kaunda, the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, should impose stricter measures to ensure better driver behaviour.
She said pedestrian bridges fell under the ambit of the eThekwini Transport Authority, but her committee would also look into it.
DA councillor Hlengiwe Shozi said six people, most of them pupils, had been killed on Dumisani Makhaye Drive since last year.
“We have been fighting to get a pedestrian bridge, but we were told that they would have to finish building the station (GO!Durban) first.”
She said Thobile Primary School in Richmond Farm was between the two available pedestrian bridges, and it was mainly pupils from that school who were affected.
The bridges did not serve the Richmond Farm and Lindelani communities.
“A permanent bridge is important for the children, but a temporary bridge can be placed and it can be done in two days,” she said.
KZN Transport Department spokesperson Mluleki Mntungwa said any attempt to attribute yesterday’s crash to a lack of pedestrian bridges or lowering the speed limit would be speculative.
The incident came a day after the Daily News reported that, according to research by the Institute of Race Relations, South African minibus taxis were unsafe, often overloaded and their drivers not trustworthy.
Many of those interviewed had seen or experienced accidents in which taxi drivers were responsible, and 47% had seen taxi drivers commit crime.
Incidents last year:
- February: Vukani Makhanya, 13, was knocked over by a car while trying to cross the busy R102 near Cornubia Housing settlement.
- April: Ayanda Mpanya, 14, and Ghotso Dlamini, 6, were killed when they were hit by a minibus taxi on Dumisani Makhaye Drive on their way to school.
- July: A woman in her early 20s was run over and killed while crossing Dumisani Makhaye Drive to visit her father.