More local lunacy ...

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Tue 18 Apr 2006 14:57
More local lunacy ... - Ian (Cape Town)
From our local newspapers...
SEVENTY-SIX Eastern Cape pilgrims were saved from a dangerous situation that could have led to a tragedy yesterday when the Ekurhuleni Metro Police caught their bus driver doing 153km an hour on the N3 outside Johannesburg.

The bus driver had been taking 65 adults and 11 children back to the Eastern Cape after a religious pilgrimage to Moria in Limpopo.

The police action took place as the national death toll went up to 101 ? compared with 241 for the five-day break last year.

When officials finally stopped the fully-laden bus and arrested the driver, they found it had, among other things, defective brakes and a bent chassis and axle.

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Tue 18 Apr 2006 15:11
More local lunacy ... - Lud
Pity he didn't quite reach the ton before he was stopped though. I'm sure they were all praying for it.
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Tue 18 Apr 2006 17:09
More local lunacy ... - madf
Plus ca change...
madf
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Tue 18 Apr 2006 19:00
More local lunacy ... - cockle {P}
Sounds like they very nearly got more out of their pilgrimage than they would have bargained for and actually met their Maker....
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Tue 18 Apr 2006 19:20
Dont smile - henry k
A least one UK tour company is using non certified local tour buses. It is very difficult to check out this aspect so beware if you are visiting SA.
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Tue 18 Apr 2006 19:23
Dont smile - Lud
Yeah, you don't want to visit Africa and then find it's a bit racier, more slapdash and barmy than Europe. That would never do.
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Tue 18 Apr 2006 19:31
Dont smile - madf
"Yeah, you don't want to visit Africa and then find it's a bit racier, more slapdash and barmy than Europe. That would never do. "

First week I arrived in SA it was Easter. A van crashed. Some 40 were killed - it was gorssly overloaded.

Seeing the racier side of SA is one thing. But being killed because you travel on vehicles which are unsafe and grossly overloaded is just stoooopid. And SA drivers are - in general with some exceptions - not noted for their high levels of skills, competence or adherence to rules.

Take no avoidable risks where you may be killed is my motto...
madf
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Tue 18 Apr 2006 19:51
Dont smile - Lud
I was being frivolous, madf.

But must also say that I have travelled a good few miles in vehicles of that sort in parts further north and further west where there were no alternative forms of affordable transport. Plywood-bodied Kenyan matatus or battered Nigerian private cars, they were nearly always overloaded, nearly always driven much too fast for safety but (I have to say) often surprisingly well.

Alhamdulillah! as the Muslims say.
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Wed 19 Apr 2006 09:00
Dont smile - Ian (Cape Town)
And SA drivers are - in general
with some exceptions - not noted for their high levels of
skills, competence or adherence to rules.


More than half of South African drivers either have:
1) NO license
2) A fraudulently issued one
3) a 'bought' one.
Also, there is no compulsory insurance.

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