South Africa's main taxi council is giving a cautious thumbs up to new holiday road safety stats, noting a drop in deadly crashes. Figures released by Transport Minister Barbara Creecy show fatal collisions and deaths are each down around twenty-one percent for the first half of December compared to last year. The South African National Taxi Council says this early trend is encouraging, but warns the busiest travel days are still coming.
The council credits stricter enforcement and its own Hlokomela safety campaign for the improvement. That program focuses on vehicle roadworthiness, driver discipline against fatigue, and passenger advocacy for things like seatbelts. They acknowledge the current daily fatality average of thirty-two remains unacceptably high, especially with pedestrians representing a large portion of those killed.
With the taxi industry moving millions of people, the council stresses that safety is a shared duty between operators, drivers, passengers, and authorities. They support continued roadside checks to remove unsafe vehicles but call for fair application of the rules. The overall national decline offers some relief, yet risks from weather, distraction, and intoxication persist as travel peaks for Christmas and New Year. The group promises ongoing partnerships with the government to build on this progress into next year.
The council credits stricter enforcement and its own Hlokomela safety campaign for the improvement. That program focuses on vehicle roadworthiness, driver discipline against fatigue, and passenger advocacy for things like seatbelts. They acknowledge the current daily fatality average of thirty-two remains unacceptably high, especially with pedestrians representing a large portion of those killed.
With the taxi industry moving millions of people, the council stresses that safety is a shared duty between operators, drivers, passengers, and authorities. They support continued roadside checks to remove unsafe vehicles but call for fair application of the rules. The overall national decline offers some relief, yet risks from weather, distraction, and intoxication persist as travel peaks for Christmas and New Year. The group promises ongoing partnerships with the government to build on this progress into next year.
