With rising fatalities in the scholar transport sector, authorities are urging parents to take proactive steps to ensure their children’s safety on the roads Mounting deaths, illegal practices, and unroadworthy vehicles in the scholar transport sector have triggered renewed warnings from national and provincial authorities, with parents urged to take direct responsibility for the safety of children travelling to and from school. The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and ChildSafe South Africa this week highlighted that children aged five to 14 accounted for 5.61% of the 12 172 people killed on South African roads in 2024, a figure both organisations described as preventable. “This is an unacceptable situation as these unfortunate fatalities could have been prevented if proper precautions were taken.
Parents must understand that road safety starts at home before a child gets into a vehicle that transports them,” said RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane. ChildSafe South Africa said enforcement alone will not protect children if parents fail to scrutinise vehicles and drivers. Executive Director Zaitoon Rabaney said parents should personally assess scholar transport before allowing children to board.
“Safety on our roads is a shared responsibility that begins long before a child reaches the school gates,” Rabaney said. She said scholar transport should not be treated as a convenience, but as a regulated service requiring strict compliance. “Scholar transport must never be viewed as a mere convenience, but as a critical service that requires rigorous safety standards.
Read Full Article on The Mercury
[paywall]
Collectively, we must ensure that operators are not only legally compliant but also fit for the duty of transporting children,” she said. Parents have been urged to verify that drivers hold valid Professional Driving Permits (PDPs), confirm identity matches licence cards, and inspect vehicles for valid operating licences, current licence discs, and roadworthy tyres. Transporting learners in the back of bakkies or open trucks remains illegal and life-threatening. The renewed national warning follows heightened focus on the state of scholar transport inKwaZulu-Natal, where Transport and Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Dumalast year acknowledged growing public concern and deadly failures in the system.
[/paywall]
