South Africa’s taxi industry is a hot and divisive topic. Just last week 11 people including a taxi driver lost their lives.
When will the road slaughter end? Every day thousands of runners, cyclists and motorists take to our roads and put themselves at risk because approximately half the vehicles on our roads are deemed to be un-roadworthy!
The Traffic Department together with other stakeholders involved in the industry must embark on a drive to impound un-roadworthy vehicles. This can be done through well managed road blocks and vehicle inspections at the taxi ranks, also to search for illegal firearms which kill drivers and owners at will such as with the story in page 1. Officers need to be trained on how to conduct vehicle safety checks and work rigorously to identify and prosecute offenders.
I agree with one person who once said that, “We are in dire need of an all in one vehicle testing, compliance and driver competency centre.” He suggested a facility that would offer the following:
• All public transport vehicles (including taxis) are tested annually for road worthiness.
• All public transport drivers (including taxi drivers) should be required to undergo a rigid competency test annually in order to retain their drivers licence;
• Tracking devices must be installed in public transport vehicles.
The device would be an aid to assist the traffic dept. in managing taxi activity along taxi routes. It could record taxi speeds, illegal stops and the use of the emergency lane.
No roadworthy certificate means no vehicle licence and yes if the speed cameras are all linked up to a National Data Base the taxi driver will be brought to justice. Wouldn’t this be better?
Lerato wa ha Serero….
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