School transport drivers speak out
Safety should be uppermost in a parent’s mind when sending children to school with a school transport service.
JOHANNESBURG SOUTH – Horror accidents in which young children have been killed and injured locally and nationwide, prompted Comaro CHRONICLE reporter Julie Maule to ask two local school transport drivers questions about their businesses.
Neither wanted to share their names or the schools where they drop off and pick up children, but they do work locally.
A 53-year-old man who runs a school transport business said he has been doing this for seven years. “I transport 16 small children from Soweto to a local school. I begin work at 06:00, stopping at the children’s homes, picking them up. I drop them off outside school and wait to pick them up in the afternoon,” he said. He charges R750 per child per month. There are no seat belts in the vehicle for the children. He says he thinks it’s a good job and he earns R12 000 per month.
Another driver said he lives and works locally, picking up and dropping off eight children in his vehicle. “They all have seat belts and I make sure they wear them,” he said. He charges between R450 and R550 per month per child.
Safety should be uppermost in a parent’s mind when sending children to school with a school transport service. Do you make sure your child is travelling in a road worthy vehicle?
Recent accidents
Thirteen children were injured when a vehicle and a truck collided on the N3 in Alberton.
Two people, including a child, were killed when a taxi transporting school children overturned on the R101 north of Pretoria.
Seven children died in Pietermaritzburg when a bakkie overturned and crashed into a house.
Eight children were injured when a car hit them outside their school in Reservoir Hills, Durban.
Do you use a transport service for your child? How do you find them? Email: juliem@caxton.co.za
