After yet another fatal road accident involving inter-provincial bus operator SA Roadlink, the provincial government of KwaZulu Natal has decided to invoke the company’s trading licence in the province with effect from Friday the 19th December at just before midnight. Transport MEC Bheki Cele said his government, through the traffic police department, would immediately arrest Roadlink drivers and impound their vehicles if found driving in KZN after the deadline.
A Roadlink bus driving in Port Shepstone on the south coast got into an accident and killed 11 people on Tuesday. About 22 people have been killed and more than 70 injured over the past two years from accidents involving Roadlink buses.
Rob Handfield-Jones of the Automobile Association (AA) said: “We applaud the swift action by the MEC in light of Tuesday’s KZN crash involving an SA Roadlink bus. We hope that his colleagues in other provinces will take similar steps and that bus operators will take note of this development."
But SA Roadlink is adamant that they have the legal right to operate in the province and will continue to do so even after Friday night. Some reports have suggested that because Roadlink drivers get paid per trip, they are often in too much of a hurry so as to do as many trips as possible.
Image courtesy of www.southafrica.to
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