Unroadworthy Putco buses to be confiscated

THE department of community safety in Gauteng will conduct random roadworthy tests on buses at various Putco depots this week.

This comes after 19 people were killed in a bus crash in Meyerton last week and two others were killed in Dobsonville in March. Both accidents involved Putco buses.

Department spokesman Thapelo Moiloa said plans were finalised last week to start the process at the Putco depots and it will come down hard on faulty vehicles.

"The [buses] found to be unroadworthy will be confiscated immediately," he said.

Moiloa said most people in the province make use of public transport and this is "one of the ways the department will be ensuring the safety of those commuters."

Moiloa said plans are being put into place to conduct roadworthy tests on minibus taxis at ranks in Gauteng after two people were killed and 44 others injured in three taxi crashes at the weekend.

"The number of accidents involving taxis is way too high and something needs to be done," he said.

The SA National Taxi Council's Thabiso Molelekwa said Netcare 911 had partnered with them to provide first-aid training to 60 taxi drivers from each province to try to minimise the number of fatalities from crashes.

"It usually takes a while before ambulances reach accident scenes," he said.

"Taxi drivers will now be able to assist passengers to prevent injuries that got worse because they received attention too late."

Netcare 911 spokesmanJeffrey Wicks said: "There are a lot of resources involved in [treatment] for those injured.

"We are just getting used to the pressure because these accidents occur so often."

Molelekwa said the first-aid training for drivers is a response to a call by the UN to South Africa on road safety.

Moiloa and Molelekwa appealed to commuters to report reckless behaviour of drivers, either by SMSing "speeding" or "reckless" driving to 32026 or calling the Santaco call centre on 0860-726-822. - louwp@avusa.co.za