Transport Minister Barbara Creecy says authorities have impounded more than 60 scholar vehicles carrying more children than they were allowed to, including illegal transport vehicles and those without public driving permits (PDPs).
One scholar driver has also reportedly been arrested for carrying more children in his vehicle than was allowed.
Creecy is conducting a blitz inspection of scholar transport in Lenasia following the horrific head-on crash with a truck, which claimed the lives of 14 school children in Vanderbijlpark on Monday.
14 kids in a car
During the blitz, The Citizen discovered an overloaded Suzuki Ertiga with 14 scholars. The vehicle is only licensed to carry 7 passengers.
A bus, which was licensed to carry 60 learners, was also overloaded with 98 learners and was stopped during the operation.
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Blitz
The minister who conveyed her condolences to the family and friends of the children who lost their lives in the terrible accident was joined by Deputy Minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa
“We are having a blitz on the roadworthiness of scholar transport vehicles. Whether those vehicles are permitted to carry passengers, and whether the drivers have the PDP public driver’s permits required if they are carrying passengers.
“What you will see is that some of these vehicles have been in the past permitted as scholar transport vehicles, but they’re not in a roadworthy condition,” Creecy said.
Concerns
Creecy said her department is concerned.
“We are deeply concerned about the fact that vehicles that really ought not to be on the road at all are carrying people’s precious children. We had a meeting immediately after that terrible accident.
“For the last two weeks, we have been focusing on all the official scholar transport vehicles that are procured by the Department of Education. We’ve been taking them in. We’ve been testing the roadworthiness, we’ve been making sure that the drivers are properly permitted,” Creecy said.
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Informal vehicles
Creecy said their focus now is on informal vehicles.
“These are vehicles that are not procured by the department, but they’re procured by parents. And our concern is that parents are procuring vehicles; they don’t understand the regulations that govern the movement of scholar transport.
“Many of the drivers here have admitted that they are not legal. They don’t have permits. The question that we have to address, and I will be addressing later on with the MMC of education and also the MMC of transport, is how they will continue this operation that we’ve started this morning,” Creecy said.
Advanced driving
Creecy said driver behaviour is very concerning.
“What we know is that once again, driver behaviour and drive a bad behaviour was a factor in the accident that took place earlier this week. Of course, the investigation is ongoing. But the question, I think, is whether those who transport children must have advanced driver training.
Creecy said there is a provision in the [Transport] Act, Section 42[2] that requires drivers who are transporting students to have advanced driver training.
“I’m going to introduce that regulation, because I think it’s terribly important that drivers understand how to drive responsibly and also how to drive defensively when they are carrying people’s precious children.”
Accident report
The Road Traffic Management Corporation is investigating the cause of the Vanderbijlpark crash in collaboration with local authorities.
The preliminary report will be released on Thursday.
