Opinion / Letters
Commuters must help police tame rogue kombi drivers
20 Mar 2014 at 13:53hrs | Views
Editor
It boggles the mind to notice that sane citizens blame the police for chasing up kombis that run away from them for various reasons. A lot of lives are lost and a number of passengers maimed on a daily basis because of these reckless drivers some of whom do not meet minimum requirements to drive public transport. Commuter omnibus owners are also to blame for employing unqualified persons without the necessary requisites as drivers. Some of them are too young to drive public transport. In all accident cases involving kombis, it is the commuter that gets injured if not killed.
Legislators should play their part by coming up with a piece of legislation that makes it unlawful for a kombi operator to employ an unqualified person as a kombi driver. Current laws are not prohibitive enough that's why these errant drivers continue to disregard human life all in the name of meeting the target set by the employer.
I know in any business there are targets to be met but in the transport industry, kombis in particular, efforts employed to meet the so called targets is costing human lives. Consider a worst scenario where all commuters get killed, will they meet their target pegged at $80 per day? To us commuters, let's stop blaming law enforcement agents for chasing kombis in an effort to implement the law. We should adopt a habit of voicing our concerns whenever these "rogue" drivers over speed, run away from police, use undesignated routes to evade police, overtake on the left hand side when there is no lane, use foul language, or behave in any manner that can be deemed indecorous.
Ruth Bridget Mapfumo
It boggles the mind to notice that sane citizens blame the police for chasing up kombis that run away from them for various reasons. A lot of lives are lost and a number of passengers maimed on a daily basis because of these reckless drivers some of whom do not meet minimum requirements to drive public transport. Commuter omnibus owners are also to blame for employing unqualified persons without the necessary requisites as drivers. Some of them are too young to drive public transport. In all accident cases involving kombis, it is the commuter that gets injured if not killed.
Legislators should play their part by coming up with a piece of legislation that makes it unlawful for a kombi operator to employ an unqualified person as a kombi driver. Current laws are not prohibitive enough that's why these errant drivers continue to disregard human life all in the name of meeting the target set by the employer.
I know in any business there are targets to be met but in the transport industry, kombis in particular, efforts employed to meet the so called targets is costing human lives. Consider a worst scenario where all commuters get killed, will they meet their target pegged at $80 per day? To us commuters, let's stop blaming law enforcement agents for chasing kombis in an effort to implement the law. We should adopt a habit of voicing our concerns whenever these "rogue" drivers over speed, run away from police, use undesignated routes to evade police, overtake on the left hand side when there is no lane, use foul language, or behave in any manner that can be deemed indecorous.
Ruth Bridget Mapfumo
Source - Ruth Bridget Mapfumo
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