They are a menace to passengers and other road users and should face the law
09 August 2023 - 17:09
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Police in Nyanga during the ongoing strike by taxi operators in Cape Town on Monday. Picture: ESA ALEXANDER/REUTERS
As a regular commuter using Johannesburg’s N1 I am well aware of the complete disregard for the rules of the road by the majority of taxi drivers. Every day we see instances of close calls involving bandit taxi drivers.
The taxi industry is the largest completely unregulated and uncontrolled industry in the country. There may be thousands of taxi drivers in SA, but there are tens of millions of us.
This morning I counted eight instances of taxis running red traffic lights, not just as they changed from green to red or red to green but right in the middle of the red light period. In many of these cases it involved forcing cars with the right of way to stop or deviate.
Not a single metro traffic cop was in evidence, yet there is a metro cop car with two or three cops sitting in it parked permanently on my street, presumably protecting some random VIP.
A study by the Automobile Association of SA recorded an annual total of 70,000 road accidents involving minibus taxis, double the rate of other passenger vehicles.
We road users who respect the rules of the road and drive accordingly must demand more visible policing of our major roadways, on which taxis are a daily risk to our safety and lives.
We must insist on CCTV cameras at all major intersections and chase down the perpetrators of blatant traffic rule violations. Make traffic fines for public transportation vehicles, including public busses, financially ruinous. Impound unroadworthy vehicles and put them in a crusher.
Minibus taxis should be as monitored as Uber taxis, using available technologies with GPS, cellular SIM cards and other tracking devices.
The ANC government has failed (again) the very people who voted for it. Taxi users are intimidated and bullied by unscrupulous taxi drivers.
Dr Peter Baker Parktown North
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Bring taxis under control
They are a menace to passengers and other road users and should face the law
As a regular commuter using Johannesburg’s N1 I am well aware of the complete disregard for the rules of the road by the majority of taxi drivers. Every day we see instances of close calls involving bandit taxi drivers.
The taxi industry is the largest completely unregulated and uncontrolled industry in the country. There may be thousands of taxi drivers in SA, but there are tens of millions of us.
This morning I counted eight instances of taxis running red traffic lights, not just as they changed from green to red or red to green but right in the middle of the red light period. In many of these cases it involved forcing cars with the right of way to stop or deviate.
Not a single metro traffic cop was in evidence, yet there is a metro cop car with two or three cops sitting in it parked permanently on my street, presumably protecting some random VIP.
A study by the Automobile Association of SA recorded an annual total of 70,000 road accidents involving minibus taxis, double the rate of other passenger vehicles.
We road users who respect the rules of the road and drive accordingly must demand more visible policing of our major roadways, on which taxis are a daily risk to our safety and lives.
We must insist on CCTV cameras at all major intersections and chase down the perpetrators of blatant traffic rule violations. Make traffic fines for public transportation vehicles, including public busses, financially ruinous. Impound unroadworthy vehicles and put them in a crusher.
Minibus taxis should be as monitored as Uber taxis, using available technologies with GPS, cellular SIM cards and other tracking devices.
The ANC government has failed (again) the very people who voted for it. Taxi users are intimidated and bullied by unscrupulous taxi drivers.
Dr Peter Baker
Parktown North
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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