A far more important priority in SA than covid infection.

Take a look at this, this is ongoing and increasing in leaps and bounds and minibus transport is a far bigger unnecessary death chamber and something we could well deal with but zero happens. It makes travelling to holiday destinations a big spoiler because there's no way that it's enjoyable and relaxing.

A study done by the Automobile Association of South Africa recorded an annual total of 70 000 minibus taxi crashes which indicates that taxis in SA amount for double the rate of crashes than all other passenger vehicles.

These stats bear this out:

“We call on all motorists to make road safety their number one priority by sticking to the speed limit at all times, not to drink and drive or use phones whilst driving and to exercise patience.

“Most accidents can be avoided by obeying the rules of the road and an increased vigilance by drivers,” Phala said.

Meanwhile, Road Traffic Management Corporations spokesperson, Simon Zwane, said it is part of the law enforcement operations to deploy officers on all identified hazardous route segments to ensure safety of pedestrians, passengers and drivers.

Perhaps they enforce driver licenses for all.

Prior to leaving SA my neighbor was a Captain in the SAP for the area including Kwa Mashu and he mentioned that the BTD (Black Taxi Drivers) who were involved in most fatal road accidents were in fact unlicensed drivers.

So reading about this many years later comes as no surprise.

When I was young we had African delivery men who rode bicycles with a small front wheel due to the delivery basket in front to carry the goods.

A standing joke with us was to shout "Accident, Accident" every time one of these delivery bikes passed us because most of the groceries either were never delivered or were in a damaged state if they did make it to the home that had placed the order.

The second joke was that the riders always thought they were going downhill.

But with progress they now have a van to really get serious.