Leonard Neill UNSCRUPULOUS ROAD transport operators will have their licences suspended or even revoked in terms of a series of tough new measures announced by Gauteng Transport MEC Khabisi Mosunkutu to combat traffic violations and accidents in the province. Mobile vehicles equipped with state-of-the-art hi-tech equipment will hunt down offenders who will be escorted to weigh-bridges or testing centres for inspection. Then, says Mosunkutu, the heavy hand of the law will come down on the guilty operators. “Unscrupulous owners of trucks will be hit very, very hard. For far too long these owners have hidden behind drivers who were left to pay the fines when vehicles were found to be unroadworthy or overloaded. These drivers are workers who are being abused.” Labour laws, he says, govern the number of hours a driver may work. Traffic officials cannot, therefore, act against an owner under the Road Traffic Act. Trade unions have now been called in to represent overworked drivers. “The positive effects of the provincial Drive4Life campaign have been negated by the escalating death toll caused by heavy vehicles running out of control for a variety of reasons. The main causes are reckless, negligent and inconsiderate driver behaviour chiefly because of conditions imposed by their employers. Many are also required to drive vehicles that are not fit for the road. “We are now going to throw a ring of steel around our metropolitan area to sort out the situation.” Included in his target path will also be all forms of public passenger vehicles, with buses and taxis among the top priorities.
