THE drive to ensure the safety of learners while travelling to and from school has paid off for scholar-transport driver Jerusha Gopal who won herself a new Toyota Quantum vehicle through a lucky draw.

Gopal, who is part of the eThekwini Municipality’s Safe to School, Safe to Home Scholar Transport Programme, was among four finalists who recorded no transgressions while transporting learners over the monitoring period during operating hours. The giveaway was at the Durban ICC where the eThekwini Transport Authority’s Road Safety Branch hosted the Safe to School, Safe to Home Scholar Transport Awards ceremony on Wednesday (October 30).

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Municipal spokesperson Mdu Ncalane said, “The programme initially trained 128 drivers. However, only 74 were selected for the five-day road-safety workshop. The remaining 54 drivers were disqualified due to non-compliant vehicles.”

Councillor Sifiso Mkhize, who is the Deputy Chairperson of the Human Settlements and Infrastructure Committee, said the aim of the programme is to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries of school children in road crashes, en route to and from school. The programme also educates drivers on the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 and its compliance, policies and regulations.

Gopal said that winning the Quantum will allow her to transport more learners to and from school in and around the north Durban area. She said, “Thank you, eThekwini Municipality, for allowing the scholar transport sector to participate in this scholar-safety project. This is a dream come true. I pledge to continue providing safe and reliable transportation service to my learners in a new and extra-comfortable vehicle.”

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The eThekwini Transport Authority partnered with Global Road Safety Partnership, Toyota South Africa Limited, Netstar, Afrofleet and other key stakeholders for the project. “The drivers were scored according to the number of transgressions the tracking devices detected during their drives to school and then during the trip home.

The transgressions included speeding, harsh acceleration and harsh braking,” said Ncalane. Suben Moodley, senior vice-president of corporate services: Toyota South Africa Motors (Pty) Ltd, praised eThekwini for being the only municipality in the country to roll out this project in addressing the safety of scholars using private transport.

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