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Road accidents involving Buses
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Safety Liaison and Transport

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 MEDIA RELEASE
 8 MARCH 2000

ROAD ACCIDENTS INVOLVING BUSES

The Province of the Eastern Cape continues to witness an escalation of Road Accidents involving Buses.The recent Bus Accident near Aliwal 
North in March 2000 where 6 people were killed is a painful addition to a lot more others.It is indeed a matter of strange coincidence that 
the buses that get involved are long-distance buses and the area is always around Queenstown.

The Department of Transport is formulating a focussed strategy to deal with this problematic area in particular.Problem areas have since 
been identified and action to be taken as follows:

* SPEEDING

Adherence to the 100 km/h. Speed limit for Buses as well as minibus taxis will be vigorously enforced. It is evident that some buses and 
taxis still do not adhere to the limit.

* FATIGUE

Forced rest areas will be effected through the time taken by traffic law enforcers on the full roadworthiness checks of vehicles. We are 
still investigating legal means to establish within the province, compulsory rest-stop areas.

* ENGINEERING INVESTIGATION

The Department of Transport in consultation with Public Works and Roads will dispatch a team of specialists made up of traffic engineers, 
road engineers to investigate the accident sports where we had accidents fairly recently.

* CROSS BORDER OPERATIONS

Road Transportation Boards across Provinces, Western Cape, Northern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal, neighbouring the Eastern Cape, will have to 
join forces to confront this common problem and improve co-operation.

* IMPROVE ROAD SIGNAGE

The Province will see improved road signage after 1st April 2000 on information related matters, e.g. emergency numbers as well as numbers 
to report road traffic infringements.

* UNROADWORTHY VEHICLES

The issuing of notices to discontinue use of unroadworthy vehicles will be intensified, and passengers on defective buses, mini-bus taxis 
and other vehicles will be off-loaded and vehicles towed-away.

* COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

Road Safety communication material will be focussed, targeting passengers to assert their rights whilst travelling in a public transport 
facility.

The above strategic intervention is within the Department of Transports overall strategic plan on Traffic Administration and Planning to 
ensure and provide safety on our roads.

Issued by:
 DENNIS S. NEER
 MEC-PROVINCIAL SAFETY LIAISON AND TRANSPORT

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