Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
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I was caught behind the bus in the photograph recently with my family, and we managed to take a photograph indicating the dark clouds being omitted by the rear exhaust. I must say that however desperate times are, and however badly somebody’s business is going, they surely can afford to prevent polluting the environment to such an extent. There surely has to be a budget for servicing the vehicle or replacing it, rather than ruining the planet we live on.
These are the types of vehicles I would like the traffic police to pull off the side of the road, impound and cart away. It would achieve a lot more in checking whether somebody’s licence has expired by 3 weeks, fines for vehicles such as this should be extreme – R30 000,00 on the spot and your car not released until such time as a government approved garage has serviced it properly, fixed it and made the owner pay before they are allowed to take it away. If you come down on people hard and treat the offences seriously, you will very quickly send the message around that people cannot put unroadworthy vehicles on our roads. Many people forget that it is not just about the pollution, but unroadworthy vehicles also lead to considerable numbers of deaths and injuries on our roads and hurt our economy. The offenders have to be severely punished.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Friday 13-Jun-14
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Comments
Elektra said:
on Tuesday 17-Jun-14 11:48 AM
Not only the toxic fumes being disbursed from this vehicle makes it a hazard to the road, But the actual driving of these buses as well. And I'm not talking about one or two incidences, but every time I have to drive past one of these Putco buses, I make sure to keep a clear distance, they drive so fast in areas that you should be keeping an average speed, and taking corners the bus cuts over two lanes, its so dangerous, other buses drive slowly and cautiously, PUTCO should be removed off the roads.
Jolene said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 02:30 PM
Pollution in Gauteng is so bad already and these busses just make it worse, they are everywhere, you will see one of them broken down almost daily.
Salomie said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 02:02 PM
I think car owners as well as those supplying a transport services should be held accountable for their vehicles. Its not just the planet that's at stake but also people's lives who cant afford their own transport
Thabitha said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 12:41 PM
PUTCO buses and their service is not up to standard people don't care any more about life.
Cindy said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 12:37 PM
I HATE a Putco bus! Either the bus is falling apart or they drive like animals! They simply do not care what condition the bus is in. I really feel sorry for the people making use of the Putco buses for transport.
Sorea said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 12:07 PM
I think Putco might be running experiments to see if their vehicles would be able to be used as effective smoke screens in times of unrest because from what I can gather from the blog, its comments and my own personal experience with their lovely orange buses (that due to the smoke residue is usually more of an orange/black colour), there is either one bus that gets around A LOT or it is a fleet wide issue with all of their vehicles. Which begs the question: how many of their vehicles are actually roadworthy? And surely they must be making enough money to be able to properly maintain their vehicles as you cannot be on any road in Gauteng without being stuck behind at least one of their pollution belching behemoths.
The only point in your blog I disagree on is the procedure to follow once these vehicles are caught on the road. The amounts of acrid smoke that is usually released by these buses must be enough for the traffic department to declare the vehicle permanently unroadworthy and then to scrap and immediately destroy the vehicle. Maybe once the bus companies realise that their decisions not to maintain their vehicles will lead to the said vehicle's destruction, they might reconsider their maintenance policies.
Monique said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 12:07 PM
If that's whats coming out of the exhaust, i wonder how safe travelling in that vehicle would be! They probably would not pull a vehicle like that over, as it would be unlikely they would receive a bride. Very worrying.
Lucretia said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 11:25 AM
If you look at countries like Japan, etc, they are not allowed to have old, unroadworthy cars on the road, in fact, after 5 years they ship their cars off to other countries. Unroadworthy cars are hazardous and cause not only accidents but traffic delays and as for the pollution, why stop smoking, when pollution will kill you anyway.
Sinead said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 09:27 AM
I actually watched Carte Blanche last week and they were speaking about air pollution and how bad it is in Johannesburg. This smoke not only pollutes the air, but it obscures your vision when driving. It also makes people sick. I hope something can be done about all of this pollution
Angelique said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 09:05 AM
Everyday on my way home to work there are 2 putco buses in front of me, I have to try get in front of them so that I don't sit behind their cloud of smoke. It grates me. Something needs to be done about this because it is all Putco buses that are like this! Instead of commenting on this bus, how about everyone send Putco a complaint email.
Simone said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 08:55 AM
You make a great point and I fully agree with you. It's the same when people throw their cigarette buds out the window of their car. They should get a huge fine if and when they are caught.
Lizanne said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 08:53 AM
I totally agree with Bianca and David. The JMPD really do not care about vehicles polluting the air. They are only interested in money and that is not the way to run any type of business. Please can they start doing something about this because what is our country going to be like in say 5 or 10 years from now.
liesl said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 08:47 AM
Clearly the owner of this bus has no respect for the environment or the people he transports. More and more vehicles in bad condition on the roads. It could be that some people are just dirt poor but then there are people who just don't care to look after and maintain their vehicles. Polluting our air with unroadworthy vehicles is but one of many offences committed by our public transport drivers/owners. They blatantly ignore all road rules causing havoc, road rage and accidents. Clamping down on them with a no tolerance attitude and severe penalties that they cannot wangle themselves out of is the only thing that could remedy this.
Refilwe said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 08:45 AM
I agree with David, they also known for hitting on every young woman they see instead of doing their job (JMPD). As well, PUTCO makes enough money, so they have more than enough to repair their buses, but they are also more interested in giving their customers terrible service like driving off as they are getting off the bus..... Its a great idea to fine vehicles releasing such toxic fumes, and i doubt they realise what the fumes are doing to not only the environment but to our bodies too!
Alexis said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 08:25 AM
There are so many unreliable vehicles out there it is insane - Taxi's, busses etc. I agree with what you day, but then on the other hand there is so much corruption that you could pay someone off and have the vehicle still on the roads
Yolandi P said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 08:16 AM
The problem with this is that people have been overexposed to the dangers of pollution and have become insensitive to its effects. It is the same reason why no real effort is made to stop the spread of HIV/Aids, rape, violence and many more issues in society. overexposure to all these elements leads to people not being shocked anymore and no effort will be made until it affects the entire population in a drastic scale.
david said:
on Friday 13-Jun-14 08:11 AM
unfortunately, the JMPD are only interested in hiding in the bushes taking photo's, and taking bribes. The fail to do their most basic duties. Ever noticed that when the robots are out, and the traffic a nightmare, the metro's are only to be seen when they jump out to fine people for taking on their cellphones...
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
