The City continues to actively promote the safe transportation of school learners by scholar transport drivers through the Safe to School, Safe to Home Scholar Transport Programme.

Wrapping up Transport Month activities the eThekwini Transport Authority’s Road Safety Branch hosted the Safe to School, Safe to Home Scholar Transport Awards ceremony at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre on 30 October 2024.

Scholar transport operator Jerusha Gopal won a new Toyota Quantum vehicle through an electronic lucky draw.

Gopal was among four finalists who recorded no transgressions while transporting scholars over the monitoring period during operating hours.

The programme initially trained 128 drivers. However, only 74 were selected for the five-day road safety workshop.

The remaining 54 drivers were disqualified due to non-compliant vehicles.Gopal said winning the Quantum will allow her to transport more learners to and from school in and around the north of Durban.

“Thank you eThekwini Municipality for allowing the scholar transport sector to participate in this scholar safety project. This is a dream come true. I pledge to continue providing safe and reliable transportation service to my learners, in a new and extra comfortable vehicle,” said Gopal.

The eThekwini Transport Authority partnered with Global Road Safety Partnership, Toyota South Africa Limited, Netstar, Afrofleet and other key stakeholders for the project.

Deputy Chairperson of the Human Settlements and Infrastructure Committee Councillor Sifiso Mkhize explained that the aim of the Safe to School, Safe to Home Scholar Programme is to contribute to the reduction in death and injury of school children in road crashes en route to and from school. It is to also educate drivers on the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, compliance, policies and regulations.

The drivers were scored according to the number of transgressions the tracking devices detected during their drives to school and then during the trip home.The transgressions included speeding, harsh acceleration, and harsh braking.

Suben Moodley Senior Vice President of Corporate Services: Toyota South Africa Motors (Pty) Ltd praised eThekwini Municipality for being the only municipality in the country to rollout this project in addressing the safety of scholars using private transport. Moodley cited statistics from the Road Traffic Management Corporation report on the State of Road Safety.

The 2023 stats revealed that 10 180 vehicle accidents were recorded last year, with a target to reduce this to about 7 000 by 2030. KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) accounted for 1 985 or 19.5% of the accidents.

These accidents resulted in 11 883 fatalities in the country, or 19 per 100 000 people. KZN accounted for 2 229 of the fatalities or 19% of the total. It is reported that road accidents cost the South African economy about R205 billion in 2023, which is about 2.74% of the country’s GDP.This is almost half of the automotive contribution to SA’s GDP.