Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi wants to see an improvement in the processes related to the issuing of driver's licences for bus drivers
And he has called on the authorities responsible to take appropriate action.This would also ensure the safety of the travelling public in buses.
He made the comment in light of four near fatal accidents involving buses in Samoa in the last week.
“This is what the LTA (Land Transport Authority) should be doing, don’t pass a person just because they can drive, make sure they understand how to drive and how the gears work in a bus,” he said.
“Because almost every accident that occurs nowadays involving buses, when the driver is questioned they say ‘the brakes were lost’, but the person who made cars wasn’t stupid to know that there should be a way to slow down a vehicle,” he added.
The Prime Minister has called on LTA to ensure that bus drivers are thoroughly tested to handle a bus especially on hills.
“Most of our drivers they are either stupid or they are too young.And when you’re too young and you drive a bus, you tend to show off and drive too fast and then disaster strikes when you get to a corner and you start to panic and don’t know what to do,” he said.
PM Tuilaepa also spoke of the government’s plan to ban wooden buses.
“First of the two, was the request from our businesspeople who use public transportation as a money earner, to allow them still because it’s much cheaper for them to afford than to import readymade buses,” he said.
“The second, if you recall the SIDS meeting we held, where all the delegates avoided riding readymade buses just to experience what it’s like to ride a Samoan made one. That is why we allowed them to still be used in Samoa. It’s a tourist attraction,” he added.