Samoa will continue to use buses with wooden canopies, despite three recent public transport accidents, which have claimed seven lives in one month.
The chairman of the transport control board who is also the minister for the Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, Tuisugaletaua Sofara Aveau, has announced a new set of rules to increase the safety of people using public transport.
All buses and taxis in the country must now undertake a safety check every six months with cigarette smoking and use of cell phones by drivers of public transport banned.
The police have also re-introduced powers under the law to stop any bus or taxi they see as unfit to carry passengers because for safety reasons.
Meanwhile the minister says the ban on the cross island road at Tiavi for buses serving Falealili and Siumu districts has been lifted.
This is after a month a bus accident in June that killed three
passengers.
