DURBAN - Scholar transport driver Nondumiso Hlengwa has been rewarded for her commitment to safety by driving off with a brand-new Toyota Quantum vehicle at the eThekwini Municipality’s Safe to School, Safe to Home Scholar Transport Awards ceremony.
Usually scholar transport drivers are under fire for overloading or reckless driving, but Hlengwa was among eight finalists who recorded no transgressions over the monitoring period, even though all of them drove more than 4 000 kilometres during that time.
Yesterday she was selected through an electronic lucky draw. The other seven finalists each received R10 000.
She said with this prize she would be able to expand her business.
“I will now be able to transport additional children. I was transporting learners with my Toyota Avanta and had to turn some children away who requested transport because there was no space, and I did not want to overload the vehicle. The safety of learners is always my priority,” she said.
For this project, the municipality partnered with Road Safety Partnership South Africa, Netstar and Toyota South Africa Motors.
It said the aim of the competition was to reduce the number of school children who were injured or died in road crashes while travelling to and from school.
eThekwini municipality spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela, said selection of drivers and training for the programme commenced in 2019.
He said about 150 drivers from the south and west regions of the city were trained over the course of three years.
Mayisela said the drivers were scored according to the number of transgressions the tracking devices detected during their trip to school and then during the trip home.
The transgressions included speeding, harsh acceleration, and harsh braking and drivers were rewarded with fuel vouchers in each period for the least transgressions per kilometre.
The Independent on Saturday