Pretoria - In an effort to promote safe public transport, the Northern Cape Transport, Safety and Liaison Department, in partnership with the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), will host a taxi driver competition this weekend.
The department’s communication officer, Keitumetse Moticoe, said the competition will be held in different venues across the province on Sunday. It is scheduled to start at 10am.
The competition will take place at Sol Plaatje testing grounds, Upington municipal testing grounds, Springbok testing grounds, De Aar municipal testing grounds as well as at Mothibistad provincial traffic station.
“As we continuously strive to ensure safe public transport for all in the province, the competition will form part of our efforts as a province in achieving this goal.
“The competition will also be a way of celebrating excellence in the taxi industry while also sharpening the skills of queue marshals and drivers’ assistants as they will receive customer care training to better the services they render to the public.
“It will include a theory test, road test and yard test with the aim of sifting the most excellent driver amongst the competitors,” said Moticoe.
She said sober driving will also be high on the agenda as drivers will also be tested for alcohol prior to participating in the competition.
According to Santaco, the taxi industry transports approximately 15 million commuters daily with 60% to 70% being the commuting public and workforce.
As the representative body of the taxi industry, Santaco nominated drivers from each district to compete in the event. Each district will have 20 participants aiming to qualify for the provincial competition.
Santaco aims to improve the image of the taxi industry and believes that road safety should not be the concern of government alone but also the taxi industry and motorists in general.
The competition will also try to show the importance of unity between the taxi industry and government with regard to saving lives through road safety initiatives. - SAnews.gov.za
