Aaron Nicodemus
The string of deadly bus accidents recently has placed an international spotlight on the safety of South African buses. Over the past two weeks accidents have killed 79 people and injured more than 250.
In the most recent accident on October 4, a bus full of worshippers on their way home to the Transkei plunged down an embankment outside East London, killing 19 and injuring 47.
The mood of the country this week was captured by two Jonathan Shapiro cartoons. In one, buses with death masks line up at a depot. A telephone operator tells a bus driver, “Another cancellation . ” In another cartoon published two days later, Shapiro calls driving on South Africa’s roads a “death-defying feat” on par with going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
According to national road statistics, Shapiro’s second cartoon is closer to the truth than the first. In the past two years, bus accidents have comprised 5% of deaths on South Africa’s roads. More than 70% of fatal accidents over the same span have involved passenger cars.
The Department of Transport says 40% of bus accidents over the past two years have been caused by another vehicle. Another 40% are caused by human factors like driver fatigue or speeding. The remaining 20% are caused by mechanical failures like failing brakes, loss of steering or blown-out tires.
Statistics show that bus accidents caused by mechanical failure are the most likely to result in deaths, followed by accidents caused by another vehicle. Accidents attributed to the driver caused the fewest fatalities in the past two years.
The Springbok Atlas bus crash outside Lydenburg that killed 26 British tourists spurred Minister of Transport Abdullah Omar to convene a bus safety summit in last week.
While it resulted in several concrete changes, like reducing the bus speed limit from 120kph to 100kph, the government has long known of safety problems within the bus industry. There are stringent regulations on bus safety, but enforcement of those codes is extremely lax.
“Our safety standards are world-class,” said Harald Harvey, senior general manager for policy, strategy and implementation in the Department of Transport. On the enforcement side, he admits, “there have been weaknesses, there have been gaps”. He said the issue of enforcing regulations “is under fundamental review”.
Randall Howard, secretary general of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, which represents bus drivers, said South Africa’s attempt to break the mostly white- controlled monopolies of large bus companies has created a new breed of smaller companies that are not being properly monitored.
He calls the situation “defective from the moment it hit the road”. Many of the smaller operators cut corners to be profitable.
Even before the recent spate of bus crashes, South Africa had initiated several pieces of legislation addressing bus safety. The first is a computerised system on which the infringements of particular buses and bus companies will be logged, so those flouting the law can be held accountable.
A similar system will be implemented for drivers, so that any traffic offences – from speeding to drunken driving – will be recorded on a point system on their driver’s licence. Accumulation of 12 points will mean a one-month suspension. Three suspensions will mean the driver’s licence will be taken away for ever.
Howard, who met transport officials this week in an attempt to develop regulations that would curb the bus carnage, said the issue of bus safety goes far beyond drivers.
“We will not accept an argument for driver negligence alone,” he said, noting that bus operators put a lot of pressure on drivers to meet deadlines and work overtime. “We should not be finding quick- fix solutions to what is a long-term problem.”
Harvey also noted that the issue of traffic enforcement, currently broken up into literally dozens of different departments and authorities throughout the country, would be consolidated under one central umbrella. Both the computerised systems and the centralisation are set to be implemented next year.
But the issue, as it always has been, is enforcement of the regulations. By law, buses are inspected at government inspection stations annually. Drivers must undergo a “professional driver permitting system” once a year.
It is in the lack of enforcement of these standards in the interim, with roadblocks and regular spot checks, that the government fails in its duty to protect bus passengers.
The bus safety summit did place more responsibility on bus companies to police themselves. Several of the largest companies agreed to subject their entire fleets to government testing, with a special focus on road worthiness of items like brakes, steering and tires.
Howard said at the Cape Town summit: “Any policy that leads to the type of disasters we’ve seen should be reviewed.”