Death-trap Taxi Ring Discovered

July 31 - Taxi drivers, lured by the cheaper prices of purchasing converted Toyota Quantam panel vans in order to carry passengers, may be putting a 'death-trap' on the road, according to a recent special investigation report in the Sunday Times.

The vehicles were purchased under the government's taxi recapitalization program, ironically to improve the safety of the 180,000 taxis on South Africa's roads.

A number of top banks financed the conversion of many of the Quantams, while the rest were refurbished using private funding.

However, since 2007, Toyota has been warning banks that for the most part, the panel vans have been converted illegally, turning them into death-traps on the road. There have been cases of seats being bolted onto the thin floor instead of the chassis, windows cut into the van and no safety equipment.

"Even in the smallest crash, passengers' legs break like twigs," remarked a Transport Department official. "We have 4000 time bombs driving around, costing lives, and nobody is doing anything about it.

But while the banks, car dealers and government departments blame each other for the illegal conversions, the passengers may be the ones to pay the highest price in the end.

Those who find themselves in accidents may find that they are unable to claim from insurance for any injuries sustained.

The Chief Executive Officer of Clarendon insurance company, Louis Fivaz, said that if an illegally converted van is involved in an accident, "we might not pay out" for passenger liability or damage to the vehicle. Especially, said Fivaz if the "conversion to an illegal vehicle contributes to the loss."