THE alarming number of crashes involding minibus taxis across the country has prompted Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peter, to meet urgently with the minibus taxi associations and industry role-players.
Since December 2016, there has been a phenomenal increment in the number of crashes involving minibus taxis, with the past week recording frequent crashes involving minibus taxis. On Sunday, 05 March 2017, another major carnage happened at the R63 between Komga and King Williams Town in the Eastern Cape, where a UD90 Truck collided head-on with a minibus taxi. Nine people died and the driver of the minibus was seriously injured and airlifted to hospital.
Minister Peters said: “Government is resolute to implement the National Road Safety Strategy, which clearly articulates South Africa’s road safety plan to fight the scourge of road fatalities. The plan will be implemented in line with South Africa’s pledge to fight road carnages and achieve the Decade of Action’s goal of reducing road fatalities by half by the year 2020.
In Durban this week, a number of school children were injured when the taxi they were travelling in collided with a bakkie at the intersection of Sydney Road and Che Guevara Road (Moore Road) on Tuesday morning.
Rescue Care Operations Manager, Ceron Lennox said: “Just after 7am Rescue Care Paramedics responded to the incident. On their arrival they found that a taxi carrying school children had rolled after colliding with a bakkie. Multiple casualties were stabilised on the scene before being transported to various hospitals. At this stage the exact cause of the collision is unknown, however SAPS were on scene and will be investigating further.”
In another incident on Tuesday morning, three people were injured after a single vehicle collided with a robot and a light pole on Felix Dlamini (Brickfield Road).
“Just before 8am Rescue Care Paramedics responded to a call for an accident on Brickfield Road near Kenilworth Road where a single vehicle had veered out of control and collided with a robot and a light pole. Three people were stabilised on the scene before being transported to hospital with minor injuries,” said Lennox. At this stage the exact cause of the collision is unknown.
