Mozambican and South African authorities on Tuesday began checking the number of passengers inside licensed minibuses at the Ressano Garcia border, as part of an initiative to bring down the number of road accidents and fatalities.

The spokesperson for Maputo provincial police command, Joao Machava, told the daily newspaper “Noticias” that a number of recent road traffic accidents with a high number of fatalities have been caused by both speeding and overcrowding in minibuses operating the Maputo – South Africa route.

As a result, Mozambique and South Africa have designed a framework for exchanging information on road safety, as part of a joint strategy for the prevention of road accidents on the motorway linking the Mozambican capital Maputo to the South African city of Witbank (EN4).

High level delegations from the provinces of Maputo and Mpumalanga met recently in the Mozambican city of Matola to review bilateral relations, particularly relating to the transport sector and road safety.

According Machava, at the meeting the South Africans delegation asked the Mozambican authorities and public transport associations to help prevent overcrowding.

“During the meeting both parties agreed to establish a more flexible framework for information exchange, as we understand that only through coordinated action will we be able to make a difference”, stressed Machava.

One of the decisions taken at the meeting was that the authorities should verify the number of passengers at the checkpoint Km4 just before the border at Ressano Garcia, with the same procedure being applied just inside South African.

Recently, eight people died and ten others were seriously injured in a road accident at Machadodorp, South African, involving a minibus which at the time was carrying 24 passengers despite being designed to carry a maximum of 16.

Joao Machava said the South African authorities mentioned this incident as an example of the malpractices that often take place involving licensed passenger minibuses registered in Mozambique.

 

 

Source: http://allafrica.com