IN AN effort to reduce deaths from scholar transport accidents in the Eastern Cape, the department of transport has announced a compulsory new sticker to show vehicles have passed a road safety inspection.
This was announced by transport MEC Thandiswa Marawu in Mthatha on Friday.
She said the sticker would be fixed to the bottom left side of the windscreen of the tested vehicle.
The move is reportedly designed to make scholar transport vehicles more identifiable and easier to monitor.
The unveiling of the new sticker coincided with the launch of a pilot project to install an electronic monitoring system in scholar transport vehicles.
The device will be used to monitor the speed of the vehicles.
Marawu said the system would be piloted for three months in Mthatha and East London.
“If the pilot project is successful, the department will make the electronic monitoring devices compulsory in future contracts,” she said.
“A number of scholar transport vehicles will undergo a road safety inspection to determine their fitness as public transport vehicles and then receive a decal to show that they have successfully passed the inspection.”
Meanwhile, drivers of scholar transport vehicles are expected to have an operating licence as well as a professional driving permit.
“We want to ensure that most, if not all, scholar transport vehicles will be identifiable by the sticker when the schools re-open ,” said Marawu.
The MEC said the department’s toll-free number, 0800-64-644, would be on the stickers and urged members of the public to use it to report unroadworthy vehicles.
Officials from the department will conduct random monitoring of scholar transport vehicles and traffic officers will also conduct regular roadblocks.
Nearly 20 schoolchildren were killed in road accidents involving scholar transport vehicles in the Transkei alone last year.
In most cases, the vehicles were found to be unroadworthy or the drivers did not posses valid driving licences.
The MEC said despite positive developments in the scholar transport service in the past, the programme encountered challenges, including the unnecessary death of pupils.
“Unfortunately, as the MEC I had to stand in front of bereaved families and convey messages of condolences although we have put in clear guidelines for this programme.
“But there are people who continued to undermine those guidelines.”
She said communities would now be encouraged to use the toll-free number.
“The unveiling of the sticker marks a permanent departure from that painful past and represents another innovation by the department in an effort to curb road carnage involving scholar transport vehicles,” she added. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
Bhisho pulls out all stops to curb pupil deaths on roads
This was announced by transport MEC Thandiswa Marawu in Mthatha on Friday.
She said the sticker would be fixed to the bottom left side of the windscreen of the tested vehicle.
The move is reportedly designed to make scholar transport vehicles more identifiable and easier to monitor.
The unveiling of the new sticker coincided with the launch of a pilot project to install an electronic monitoring system in scholar transport vehicles.
The device will be used to monitor the speed of the vehicles.
Marawu said the system would be piloted for three months in Mthatha and East London.
“If the pilot project is successful, the department will make the electronic monitoring devices compulsory in future contracts,” she said.
“A number of scholar transport vehicles will undergo a road safety inspection to determine their fitness as public transport vehicles and then receive a decal to show that they have successfully passed the inspection.”
Meanwhile, drivers of scholar transport vehicles are expected to have an operating licence as well as a professional driving permit.
“We want to ensure that most, if not all, scholar transport vehicles will be identifiable by the sticker when the schools re-open ,” said Marawu.
The MEC said the department’s toll-free number, 0800-64-644, would be on the stickers and urged members of the public to use it to report unroadworthy vehicles.
Officials from the department will conduct random monitoring of scholar transport vehicles and traffic officers will also conduct regular roadblocks.
Nearly 20 schoolchildren were killed in road accidents involving scholar transport vehicles in the Transkei alone last year.
In most cases, the vehicles were found to be unroadworthy or the drivers did not posses valid driving licences.
The MEC said despite positive developments in the scholar transport service in the past, the programme encountered challenges, including the unnecessary death of pupils.
“Unfortunately, as the MEC I had to stand in front of bereaved families and convey messages of condolences although we have put in clear guidelines for this programme.
“But there are people who continued to undermine those guidelines.”
She said communities would now be encouraged to use the toll-free number.
“The unveiling of the sticker marks a permanent departure from that painful past and represents another innovation by the department in an effort to curb road carnage involving scholar transport vehicles,” she added. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
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