On the 12th of May the Arrive Alive website reported on a bakkie accident that claimed 10 lives in the Northern Cape! There were signs that the bakkie had rolled several times. This mode of transport is common in South Africa – and we seldom find that this danger is addressed with effective enforcement.
I found the following information on Wikipedia about the “bakkie”
“Visitors to South Africa will often hear pickups referred to as bakkies (bakkie: singular). This is derived from the diminutive Afrikaans term bak – literally a baking bin, such as those used for baking loaves of bread. Early pickups dating from the 1940s were sedans with a cargo carrier bin, added almost as an afterthought – which gave rise to the term, and its widespread use. Another popular assumption is that the word “bakkie” was derived from the old English “buggy” (a two-wheeled horse drawn cart used for light duty farmwork). For the last few decades the word “bakkie” has been used by all language groups as a generic term for all light duty commercial vehicles (up to appr. 1000kg payload and often derived from saloon car designs) in South Africa.”
A visitor to the Arrive Alive website sent an email with a photo of this road safety threat. For many years appeals have been made to the Authorities to prohibit the carrying of people in the goods section of goods vehicles, even in big trucks, particularly after the frequent serious accidents that have happened during recent years.
The root of the problem is that the Road Traffic Legislation does NOT prohibit the conveyance of persons, children or adults, in the section of a goods vehicle intended for carrying goods, unless the conveyance is for reward in which case there is a total prohibition.
The transportation of people in the goods compartment of vehicles needs to be addressed by Traffic Authorities if we would like to reduce accidents with multiple fatalities.
Also view on the Arrive Alive website: