A new so-called “Designated Driver” service ( DD service) that uses commercial or professional drivers to drive the owner’s vehicle home after they have been drinking, has recently been made available as a customer service on a wide scale by Banks and Insurers for people who drink alcohol and don’t make prior arrangements to get home. The service offering has good merits but the widespread implementation has raised questions of serious risks and the legality not only for users but for the Banks and Insurers that have offered these services to customers.
The service has been made available at a cost per customer by call centre based companies to Banks and Insurance companies for their customers as a value added benefit, mainly for the metropolitan areas and is offered by these corporate entities for “free” to these customers. The Bank or Insurance company however pays the driver fee to the Call Centre Company or service provider that contracts with the drivers or service provider to render the driving service to the Bank or Insurer’s customer. This is conveyance of persons for reward in terms of law.
The majority of the service providers’ drivers are not compliant with the law and are driving private vehicles without holding a professional driver’s permit (PrDP) that is required by all drivers who drive any vehicle for reward, such as taxi drivers, chauffeurs or commercial vehicle drivers. The matter of unlicensed PrDP drivers has been in the forefront of some serious collisions such as the recent tragic death of some 22 people in Pinetown, and the matter is not a trivial as some appear to believe. This risk has major implications for the Banks, Insurers, motorists and other road users.
An investigation into these commercial DD services earlier this year showed that almost all the drivers rendering these DD driver services do not hold a PrDP and were therefore illegally driving vehicles for reward. Many of these drivers are students, foreigners and had no or very little professional driver training and there were no prescribed compliancy checks or tests done as all commercial drivers are required to satisfy the authorities to be issued with a PrDP. Many were doing this as a part time night job while at university and had no or little driver training. Some of the DD service companies do checks into the driver’s criminal records, check driver skills but not all, and very few of the drivers have a PrDP. Some call centre service providers have stated that their drivers are compliant and do hold PrDP’s.
While it may have merit to claim that these DD or Call Centre services are on face value rendering a valuable “community’ service to limit drunken drivers on the road, if they are driving illegally and have not undergone the tests and requirements of the law for a PrDP then the services are not only illegal but it is also a serious risk to the public and owners of vehicles.
There can be no justification in disregarding the law by driving without a PrDP to assist some person home if they have had too much to drink, especially when there are lawful service providers such as some of the DD services, and more particularly the taxi industry who are compelled to hold PrDP’s and prosecuted if they do not and who operate in most metropolitan areas where these services are rendered.
It is likewise unfair and improper that law abiding service providers, and the taxi industry are required to comply with the law and obtain a PrDP in the interests of the public’s safety and prosecuted for non compliance, while the majority of these “new DD” drivers do not comply with the law. Those who hold PrDP’s are offering a legal service.
Primarily for reasons of public safety, for a person driving a vehicle for reward in terms of the law to be granted a PrDP that person must inter alia:-
- Be older than 21 years of age
- Hold a valid driving licence (not an International Provisional License or Driving Permit ).
- Produce a medical certificate certifying their medical status as contemplated under the law
- Produce their criminal record.
- Within a period of five years prior to the date of application, not have been convicted of or paid an admission of guilt on:-
1. Driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a drug having a narcotic effect;
2. Driving a motor vehicle while the concentration of alcohol in his or her blood or breath exceeded a statutory limitation;
3. Reckless driving; or
4 An offence of which violence was an element (for these categories P and D).
A driver who has a conviction for an offence where violence is an element is contained in our NRTA for specific reasons of safety, as applies in most other countries, and is primarily also a consideration of passenger safety. This is critical for the evaluation of risk by Banks and Insurers or any entity offering this service to its customers, especially for the safety of women being taken home by a male driver and the potential risk of rape while she is intoxicated. Persons with a profile of violence are also considered to be a high risk to road rage and aggressive driver Behaviour. To claim that these DD service drivers need not subject themselves to these requirements set by the law to protect the public is not just irresponsible but in fact is reckless of any person supporting such an illegal service.
Once a motor vehicle is used for the conveyance of persons for reward, whether in that person’s own vehicle or that of another, the driver must hold a PrDP. Driving for reward without a PrDp is a criminal offence in terms of the NRTA (regulation 115 (1) (e) ) and there are also consequences for the providers of services that are illegally operated such as Banks, Insurers, Restaurants, Clubs, employers of such persons, and also the owner of that vehicle, in the event of a collision where someone is injured or killed. This is clear under the National Road Traffic Act and the Road Accident Fund Act.
When allowing any person to drive a vehicle as a paid driver, the driver must be asked by the person handing over the keys if the person holds a valid PrDP and to ask that person to show them that document before they drive. The driver is required to carry that document on them while driving. This PrDP must be a category P or D and not G.
It is an offence for a person to permit another driver, who drives for reward, to drive a motor vehicle on a public road unless you are sure that the person is the holder of a professional driving permit, PrDP of the appropriate category (regulation 124 of the NRTA).
Motorists using a DD service must check that a person employed to drive their vehicle holds and produces their PrDP for category P or D authority. If they don’t it is illegal to drive for reward and if someone is killed the driver and person that used the DD service and the entity or persons offering that service too will run the risk of prosecution and major civil claims.
Also view:
The Consequences of Drunk Driving and Unlicensed driving Explained