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6 ways mini-bus taxis make driving in Gauteng dangerous

Pretoria - On Wednesday, Wheels24 published a clip showing a taxi driver driving recklessly in Cape Town.

Taxis behaving badly are a sad reality of driving on our roads yet the question remains - Why is the behaviour considered 'normal'?

Wheels24 reader Lawrence Swanson said: "My impression is that traffic law enforcement in Cape Town and surrounds is poor and limited to using cameras to trap speeding vehicles; road blocks (other than at night) to check vehicles licences and taxi route compliance; and checking of over loaded vehicles at weighbridges."

READ: 7 ways mini-bus taxis make driving in Cape Town incredibly dangerous

Reader Philip Spies says bad behaviour from taxi drivers is not limited to Cape Town.

Spies says:

While I appreciate the Wheels24 reader's frustration with taxis in Cape Town, this problem is definitely not limited to the Western Cape.

I drive from Pretoria to Johannesburg every day, and all of the problems mentioned are a daily occurrence for Gauteng drivers as well:

1 Taxis driving down the emergency lane on the highway
2 Taxis driving past the vehicles at the off ramp, only to cross the yellow lines and push into the line at the front.
3 Taxis in turning lanes driving straight across intersections, or turning out of lanes with no turns allowed.
4 Taxis crossing red lights at will and not stopping at stop signs.
5 Stopping anywhere to load or unload passengers, even on the highway!
6 I even saw a taxi doing a U-turn on the N14 from the extreme left lane into oncoming traffic on the other side of the highway...


Have you experienced poor law enforcement or lawless motorists in SA? Email us or get in touch via Facebook and Twitter.


What makes this worse is, I have seen taxis do all of the above in full view of metro police without being stopped.

Other drivers have now started copying this behavior as well.

I suspect that metro police are either afraid to stop taxis, or they are given "lunch money" by the Taxi Associations not to notice the violations?

At least the metro police in Johannesburg are visible, I almost never see a metro police car in Pretoria.

I think all motorists share the same frustration the drivers in Cape Town are obviously experiencing, and this problem is getting worse.

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