Taxi Association chair urges road users to be safe this festive season

With the festive season already here and the township celebrating and observing these holidays, road accidents also tend to be on the rise.

To help curb road accidents, which most of the time result in the loss of life, the chairperson of the Tembisa Local Taxi Association, Alfred Sithole, has once again called for tolerance and some responsible driving by all motorists.

“Our drivers are always on the road, ferrying people to different destinations, and this time of the year, it gets busier. And as an association, we have decided to start by looking in the mirror and asking ourselves serious questions such as, are we doing enough to ensure that our drivers adhere to the rules of the road? And this introspection has made us call on all our local drivers to be tolerant and vigilant in the road,” said Sithole.

“We will continue preaching the road safety gospel until we get our drivers and all motorists in general to be tolerant and patient. We need to preach it until we all change our attitudes,” he continued.

Sithole has been in the taxi industry for a long time and has argued that today’s motorists no longer follow and obey the basic rules of the road and this is what causes carnage and road rage.

“Like I said before and I will keep on saying it without fear or favour, our very own taxi drivers sometimes behave as if they own the roads. And that can’t be correct and it needs to be fixed.

“You know how they just stop their vehicles anywhere and at any time they want to. They believe that if you are a taxi driver, you have a licence to do as you please on the road. This is wrong and a bad attitude that must come to an end. We understand that they work in a very demanding environment and are always chasing targets, but we want to remind them to always practice safety first and remember that there are others using the roads,” said Sithole.

He didn’t leave out pedestrians, especially those who drink and walk along the main roads.

“So many accidents have happened and most of the times, it’s the pedestrians on the wrong side of the law. They drink and when alcohol has taken over, they think they are cool and tough to just walk in the middle of the road. So, our message to them is to also practice safety and value their lives,” concluded Sithole.