No legislation yet to outlaw passengers at the back of vehicles

Cape Town – Transport Minister Dipuo Peters’ hands are currently tied to stop the transportation of people at the back of light duty vehicles, panel vans, trailers and trucks.

New regulations however completely outlaw the transportation of school children at the rear of goods vehicles. 
 
In a response to a parliamentary question from Manny de Freitas from the Democratic Alliance (DA), Peters said a “complete ban” on transportation at the rear of goods vehicles will result in some of the economic sectors shutting down, as they will become financially unviable.

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The Department of Transport has promulgated legislation that completely prohibits such transportation if conducted for reward, she said. 

In addition, the Department published regulations for comment in May 2015 intending to restrict the number of people transported at the rear of vehicles to five. 

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“This proposal was however not supported by most of the transport sectors, such as agricultural, building, construction and gardening services, that use goods vehicles to transport their workers to the relevant sites,” Peters said. 

She pointed out that the Department published new regulations under the National Road Traffic Act which prohibits the transportation of school children at the rear of goods vehicles.