AS of today (Thursday), transporting children on the back of bakkies will be illegal.
Regulation 250 of the National Road Traffic Act published in November last year and implemented since this morning, states that ‘no person shall on a public road convey schoolchildren in the goods compartment of a motor vehicle for reward.’
The amendment seeks to prevent the practice prominent in especially northern KZN that has led to several children’s deaths and serious injuries.
Since last year, at least three learners have died and more than 70 injured in horror accidents on the R66 near eShowe, R22 near Mbazwana and the P459 near Mandeni alone.
While the new law has received widespread support, many are ‘cautiously welcoming’ it.
DA Chief Whip for the City of uMhlathuze, Christo Botha, who recently urged the traffic department to put intervention measures in place to ‘stop children being cramped like sardines into unroadworthy vehicles’, said he can only hope the law will be obeyed.
‘I have been fighting for the safety of our schoolchildren for a long time and certainly welcome any changes to legislation which aims to curb possible loss of lives or injuries. However, I think more could have been done.
ALSO READ: Five children seriously in a bakkie crash near Mbazwana
Read full story in ZO Weekender!
