South Africa crash prompts transport reforms

There has been growing concern over South Africa's passenger safety record

South Africa has announced a shake-up of its passenger transport system following the deaths of 26 British tourists in a bus crash.

It was the latest in a series of accidents which killed 58 people in just one week.

Technical experts are still trying to determine the cause of Monday's crash, near Lydenburg in the north eastern region of Mpumalanga.

The British tourists were killed when the coach left the winding Long Tom Pass and rolled down a hillside.

But Transport Minister Dullah Omar has already announced a number of measures to regulate the industry.

These include:

• vehicle fitness testing
• lower speed limits for buses
• regulating maximum driving hours
• mandatory advanced courses for long distance drivers.

Commission

Mr Omar also announced that a commission of inquiry would be set up to look at the causes of the Lydenburg crash.

Transport Minister Dullah Omar: Better enforcement and monitoring needed

He gave no timeframe for the inquiry, but said he wanted it to start as soon as possible.

"The law with regard to standards seems to be adequate; what is required is that there is effective enforcement and effective monitoring," said Mr Omar.

"It is to assist in achieving both these results that we are instituting the inquiry."

On Thursday government transport officials, bus companies and traffic experts will meet to discuss the spate of coach accidents.

The Environment and Tourism Minister, Valli Moosa, has cut short a visit to Chile to attend the summit amid concern that the accidents could harm the country's tourism industry.

But Transport Ministry spokesman Mike Mabasa denied that the meeting had been arranged only after the Lydenburg accident.

Road deaths targeted

"While people were still preparing for the summit, we had a spate of these crashes, including one which involved tourists," he told BBC News.

"It is very incorrect to suggest that the government was only doing this because tourists from a different country were involved."

The government also signalled its intention to try to bring down South Africa's road death toll, currently one of the world's highest at more than 9,000 a year.

It is planning a penalty points system for drivers, which could result in repeat offenders having their licences suspended or withdrawn.