Four days into the City of Cape Town’s festive season road safety initiative, 180 public transport vehicles have already been found to be unroadworthy.

On the positive side, most of the vehicles stopped and checked were roadworthy, the City said on Monday.

Safety checks on 628 vehicles – of which the majority were minibus taxis and buses – found that 448 (71%) were roadworthy.

The checks were conducted at various interchanges as part of Operation Exodus, an annual safety initiative designed to ensure vehicle and driver fitness, particularly for public transport vehicles on long distance trips.

Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said in a statement that where officers detected problems, these were pointed out to the vehicle’s driver or owner.

“They could then go and have those issues seen to and return for a retest. There were about 50 cases where the vehicles were suspended from operating on a public road until such time that the defects are satisfactorily addressed,” he said.

In addition, 8 011 transgressions – including speeding, unlicensed drivers or vehicles and failure to wear safety belts – were recorded during random vehicle checkpoints and roving patrols across the city.

“The next week is going to be crucial as we expect a sharp rise in the number of people traveling on or around the public holiday and then in the days leading up to Christmas,” Smith said.

He appealed to public transport operators to submit to the safety checks “for their own peace of mind but also that of their passengers”.

“However, I do want to remind private motorists that we’ll be keeping an eye on them too and that the same rules apply to everyone.

“Get your vehicle tested to ensure it is roadworthy and refrain from drinking and driving as you could land up behind bars, or worse, cause a crash with potentially devastating results.” News24