Transport organisation: Our taxi was roadworthy, not overloaded

MEMBERS of the Tembisa Education Transport Coordinators will visit the Esselenpark family of the little girl who died after a school bus crash in Birchleigh North. The five-year-old Oxford Combined College learner succumbed to her injuries in the Tembisa Hospital, after the accident on Monday morning, when the school minibus taxi fell into a ditch at the cornerof Pongolariver Drive and Strydom Street.

The blue minibus taxi was transporting 17 learners, including the girl. The 35-year-old driver was also injured.

Chairperson for the Tembisa Education Transport Coordinators, Bhekumuzi Ngwenya, said members of their association would visit the family and engage with them on how they can help.

He confirmed that the taxi involved was a part of their organisation.

“Members of the executive committee will meet on Monday afternoon, to discuss when we can meet with the family of the little girl. We will speak to them and find out how best we can help them after this very unfortunate incident,” he said.

“We will also visit the families of the other children who were injured.”

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Addressing concerns that the minibus taxi might have been overloaded, Ngwenya confirmed that the driver had followed the correct procedures with regard to the maximum number of children to be transported at a time.

The association said the taxi was also, indeed, roadworthy.

“We recently renewed the licence discs on all our vehicles, which goes hand-in-hand with ensuring the state of the vehicles, including this one,” he said.

”So, yes, we are confident the taxi is in good condition.”

A minibus taxi takes a maximum of 14 adults, and school bus taxis use a certain system to work out the maximum number of children transported in a taxi.

“Two children count as one adult, and three children count as two adults, therefore, in this particular case, the vehicle was not overloaded,” he added.

According to the chairperson, the organisation was seriously concerned about the increase in school bus accidents, and had already begun talks with the EMPD to see how best they can deal with the accidents.

“We have already had one meeting with the metro police, which we held during the school holidays. We will have a follow up one on July 27.”

Unfortunately, some of the battles the association is faced with is that not all learner transporters are members of the Tembisa Education Transport Coordinators, making it difficult to be accountable for some of the accidents that have occurred.

“Some of the challenges we face as an organisation is that not all the taxis that get into accidents are registered with us, making it difficult to keep order and to know when our members have been involved in such situations. As a result, we urge all school bus operators and drivers to please join our organisation so we are able to take responsibility for their actions.”

Ngwenya said they had also hosted a three-day workshop in June, at Bila Bila Conference Lodge, where drivers were educated on how to successfully run a learner transportation system, and how drivers should appropriately conduct themselves when transporting learners.

“The problem is that some of the school drivers come from a background of taxi driving, so some of the conduct they bring with them is not necessarily in line with how we’d like our drivers to behave on the road,” he explained.

”For example, smoking and loud music is strictly prohibited when transporting our children.

”These are school learners and the journey to school should not be disruptive and noisy, but should rather be a peaceful environment where learners can be well prepared to start their day in the classroom.

“When parents entrust us with their children, we temporarily become custodians of those kids when on the road with them, so we have to make sure those kids are safe at all times.

”And, through engaging with the metro, we hope we can find a way to curb all these accidents.”