According to a report, truck driver error is to be blamed for the death of 20 people in uPhongola, KwaZulu-Natal last week.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula released a report on the uPhongola crash this afternoon.
The tragic road crash took place on September 16, 2022 on the N2 in uPhongola, where an articulated truck collided with a light delivery van (LDV). The van was transporting 18 primary school children aged between 5 and 13 and a teacher.
All the occupants of the van, including the driver, died at the scene of the crash.
The truck driver, Sibusiso Siyaya, 28, appeared in the Pongola Magistrate’s Court on Monday. He faces 20 counts of culpable homicide.
NPA KZN spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Siyaya was remanded in custody until September 26, when a bail application would take place.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation investigated the crash.
The report found that the driver of the truck allegedly overtook multiple vehicles, where this action was prohibited by no-overtaking lines, in a dangerous and unlawful manner.
“This driver recklessly overtook vehicles and drove on the oncoming lane for approximately 1.2 kilometres. These vehicles had to swerve out of the way of the approaching truck. The driver never made any attempt to return to his correct lane, but continued driving against oncoming traffic, putting the lives of other motorists at risk,” claimed the report.
The report further claimed: “The report concludes that driver error is the major contributing factor to the root cause of the road crash. This is as a result of the driver of the truck overtaking multiple vehicles, where this action was prohibited by no-overtaking lines, in a dangerous and unlawful manner, placing the lives of the occupants of the oncoming vehicles at risk.”
Mbalula said the truck driver’s alleged action of overtaking vehicles for approximately 1.2 kilometres before the area of impact, was extremely reckless.
“The driver of the van was transporting scholars at the back of an LDV. This is illegal and extremely dangerous for the passengers on the back of a goods vehicle,” he said.
Regulation 250 of the National Road Traffic Act of 1996, which came into effect on May 11, 2017, prohibits the transportation of schoolchildren or any other person in the goods compartment of a motor vehicle for reward.
Mbalula said the contents of the report would be brought to the attention of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the senior public prosecutor for their consideration.
Mbalula said as part of efforts to make roads safer, officials were putting in place a number of measures to reinforce current interventions.
The measures include:
Immediate deployment of the KwaZulu-Natal Road Transport Inspectorate as well as the Local Municipality Traffic authority on identified hazardous locations.
Deployment of the national traffic police on ad-hoc basis to assist the province. They will be able through an analysis of traffic statistics to identify areas with insufficient traffic policing capacity.
Block patrol in the form of compulsory stopping of trucks at certain intervals to ensure speed reduction and considerate driving towards other road-users.
"We are pleased that the province has completed the necessary processes to ensure visibility of traffic police officers around the clock throughout the year,” Mbalula said.
There have been a number of accidents taking place on the N2, which have claimed many lives.
Mbalula said further interventions will be implemented to reduce the level of unsafe access off the N2 and additional gravel roads will be provided.