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Taxis parked at a taxi rank in George, Western Cape.
The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) in the Western Cape says passenger safety must be top of mind for every minibus taxi operator and driver this festive season.
The taxi umbrella body launched its “Your Safety Our Priority” festive season safety campaign at the Joe Gqabi interchange in Philippi in Cape Town.
The campaign focuses on among others, fatigue management, vehicle roadworthiness, passenger awareness and collaboration with traffic services and law enforcement.
Holidaymakers
Thousands of minibus taxis will take to the country’s highways over the next few days transporting holidaymakers to loved ones in other provinces. And SANTACO says it wants every driver and commuter to be safe on the roads.
With traffic volumes set to increase significantly, it encouraged its members to ensure the roadworthiness of vehicles. But also to ensure drivers are physically fit for long road trips.
SANTACO Regional Chairperson, Mandla Hermanus says, “We are even doing eye testing for our drivers and also checking the high blood pressure. we have done that over the last few days where we have checked over 200 individual drivers and those drivers will receive spectacles because they have challenges with eyesight so it’s an authentic campaign, it’s aimed at really addressing the issue of safety within the industry.”
Between 1 December 2023 and 11 January this year, the province recorded 164 traffic fatalities.
Authorities have commended SANTACO’s initiative but say it cannot just be a talk shop. It says it will do whatever it takes to make sure any unroadworthy vehicle, public or private, is removed from the roads.
Western Cape Minister of Mobility, Issac Sileku says his government is committed to working with the taxi industry to ensure road safety over the festive period.
“We are going to look at legislation to make sure that we compel all modes of transport in our province to go for roadworthiness because we cannot go in year out and still find ourselves in a process where we are losing lives because people do as they like. People must come to the level of understanding, when you drive on the roads in the Western Cape you must make sure that your car is roadworthy, you have all the relevant documentation that you need, or otherwise, we are going to deal with you in the Western Cape.”
Sustainability
The industry has been lauded as being the backbone of public transport. Its sustainability depends on a safe and reliable service.
John Lawson is the CEO of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industries. He says, “The public sector has not created the means for people to get from A to B. The industry has responded where the state has failed and it didn’t cost the state anything. So it’s a private sector solution that gets people from A to B safely. The problem we have is a couple of drivers drive badly and it’s so visible and it’s in our faces and then there’s this incredibly stupid mistake people make and generalise and say all the taxis are like this. So we really believe in this industry because it moves, and provides 70 – 80 percent of public transport. We can’t survive as an economy without that.”
SANTACO says their focus on road safety is not just over the festive season but will be a 365-day-a-year campaign.
FESTIVE SEASON ROAD SAFETY CAMPAIGN
Minister Creecy outlined areas for this year’s campaign including the strategic deployment of law enforcement officers as well as awareness initiatives to support the campaign. #ArriveAlive#ProjectEdwardSA2024 pic.twitter.com/4iP6bx3SDE
— Department of Transport (@Dotransport) December 3, 2024
