Drivers should go back to basics
The police and and the Road Traffic Inspectorate are still gathering statements from the survivors.
MORE than 300 people attended the memorial service at Ugu Sports and Leisure Centre last Wednesday of the 11 people who died in the New Year’s Eve collision involving a bakkie and a taxi in Ramsgate.
KwaZulu-Natal transport boss Sibusiso Gumbi, who attended the service, accused the government of being too lenient on motorists who violated traffic laws. He added that he suspected that this leniency contributed to the amount of accidents happening on the province’s roads.
A spokesman for the KZN department of transport, Kwanele Ncalane, said forensic investigations had revealed that one of the vehicles had attempted to overtake another vehicle before they collided head-on.
“Police and the Road Traffic Inspectorate are still gathering statements from survivors,” said Mr Ncalane.
“Our department intends to strengthen our partnership with the taxi industry and bus industry, because that is where there is always potential for the impact of accidents to be felt because many people can die.”
“The solution to road safety is to abide by the laws of the road and to spread the message around,” he said.
“The message is clear; road accidents do not happen by themselves; drivers contribute to them. We need to go back to basics. Our drivers speed, drive drunk, people do not wear seatbelts, yet these are the things we are taught when we go for our licence,” he said.
