Three buses forced to return to Beira with passengers: Drunken driving, mechanical deficiencies, overcrowding & more

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Three buses forced to return to Beira with passengers: Drunken driving, mechanical deficiencies, overcrowding & more

12:44 CAT | 08 Sep 2017

DM / The buses were on their way from Beira to Maputo, Tete and Nampula

Three Nagi Investments buses loaded with passengers and bound for Maputo, Tete and Nampula were forced to return to the company’s Beira depot yesterday morning after Traffic Police, INATTER and the Municipal Police agents detected irregularities during a road inspection operation.

“Diário de Moçambique” has learned that the anomalies rangde from mechanical deficiencies, lack of adherence to the timetable and overcrowding to drunken driving.

Only after correcting the irregularities and confirming that everything was in compliance with the regulations were the buses allowed to depart for their destinations again, according to Sofala head of Traffic Police, Armando Zunguza.

The penalty levied for non-compliance with published departure times was 12 500 meticais. The drunk driver was fined 1,500 meticais and had his driving license confiscated, and for overcrowding, the carrier was fined 200 meticais for each of the six passengers found sitting in the aisle of the bus.

Armando Zunguza said the irregularities were detected during a compliance inspection mounted by the joint team.

“We are concerned about road accidents involving passenger transport buses, so we mounted a night surveillance operation and detected several irregularities.

“For example, the bus bound for Maputo had a bald tire, as well as being overcrowded. The one travelling to Nampula was also overcrowded and the driver was under the influence of alcohol.

“The bus to Tete was penalised for non-compliance with the departure time. One of the measures taken was to send the buses back to the depot to regularise their situation,” he said.

The irregularities were corrected under the supervision of the authorities. “The goal is to reduce the blood spilt on the roads,” Zunguza said, but the enforcement action was also intended to educate motorists, and Zunguza called on the public to report any non-compliance with traffic rules.

“The causes of accidents involving the carriers have to do with mechanical conditions, excessive speed and driving under the effects of alcohol – in short, negligence on the part of carriers and drivers. It is our intention to see this situation addressed,” he said.

In addition to the Nagi Investments buses, the authorities inspected 196 other vehicles and handed out 36 fines totalling 63,000 meticais.

A bus operated by the carrier Nhancale recently ran off the road in Inhambane province, killing 12 and injuring 42.

By Alberto Cassimo

Source: Diário de Moçambique