Taxi Owners Should Be Criminalised for Taxi Carnage

Fatalities caused by taxis are a daily occurrence on our roads, highlighted by the latest lunatic driving of a taxi in VanderBijl Park, which tragically resulted in at least twelve deaths. But there is a way to rein in this lawlessness: follow the money.

With few exceptions, taxis are owned by syndicates. These taxi bosses reel in millions in cash, most of it unseen by SARS. They are the ones who determine who drives their taxi fleets. They are fully aware of how their vehicles are driven, yet they do nothing about instilling respect for the rules of the road or respect for the safety of their passengers.

Thus, a way of curbing the rogue driving of taxis is to criminalise the taxi owners. It should be easy to trace them via the registration plates on taxis. The owner of the taxi that caused the twelve deaths in VanderBijl Park should be indicted for complicity in causing those deaths. He supplied and owned the means which caused the carnage. He is responsible for employing that driver without ascertaining his utter disregard for road safety.

Holding the taxi bosses accountable for the hooligan, rogue and lawless way in which taxis ply their trade on our roads may have a moderating effect on what has become an intolerable menace. And it should start with fining the bosses R10,000 each time a taxi is recorded ignoring traffic lights.

Besides law enforcement and the courts, SARS should get the taxi bosses in their crosshairs.