Taxi organisations will patrol the country’s highways with traffic officers this Easter in a bid to boost road safety, the Arrive Alive campaign announced on Tuesday.
”Neither Arrive Alive nor the government knows our drivers like we do, and so we will patrol the roads with traffic officers,” said South African National Taxi Council president Tom Moufe.
Speaking at the launch of Arrive Alive’s Easter road safety campaign in Pretoria, he said taxi drivers would respond better to those who knew the way they worked.
A hundred thousand leaflets and 1 000 posters will be distributed at taxi terminals throughout the country urging operators to drive carefully.
”A good driver is a safe driver, is the message we will be spreading,” he said.
Moufe added that while on patrol they would be reporting bad driving practices and help with breakdown.
”This year we want our passengers and our drivers to arrive safely. We have told all drivers to help others who are stuck on the side of the road. This way we can transport our passengers safely and quickly,” he said.
To mark the occasion, Arrive Alive in conjunction with non-governmental body Drive Alive and the South African Post Office, launched a series of postage stamps to mark road safety.
Drive Alive chairperson Moira Winslow said she hoped to ”get road safety licked”.
”As part of the campaign and a world health initiative we will also be opening up remembrance gardens where we can go and remember the dead,” said Winslow, wiping away a sudden tear.
Twiggs Xiphu from the South African Post Office said stamps were tiny ambassadors of South Africa and as such were an ideal way to spread such an important message.
The Deputy Director General of Transport, Sipho Khumalo, said the government realised that without strategic partnerships, the number of road deaths could never be reduced.
Imperial Fleet Services this year again donated 20 vehicles for six weeks. They have been in partnership with Arrive Alive since April 2000.
Managing director Monique Frey said that as Imperial Fleet Services had 35 000 vehicles on the road, it felt it should do its part in keeping them safe. — Sapa