Ntau Letebele, Director Arrive Alive (left) welcomes Birgitta Holstrom and Hans Laurell from SWEROAD.

Driver Health definitely seems to be the flavour of the day as far as current topics go and as an active role player in promoting driver health and safety, FleetWatch is thrilled to see such strong focus on the subject from so many different avenues.

Over and above being approached for assistance in two separate SABC2 interviews regarding driver fatigue and metabolic disorders such as Diabetes and Hypertension, we also recently attended the National Department of Transport's Health and Safety Conference in Pretoria - where FleetWatch's Lorinda Stoltz was one of the speakers - as well as the monthly IRTE forum in Bez Valley where driver health was addressed.

Arrive Alive
The National Department of Transport, in partnership with the Swedish National Road Administration (SWEROAD), have in the past two years focussed their combined efforts on aspects such as the training of traffic officers at provincial and local levels, improving accident prone areas and researching the implications of HIV/AIDS on road traffic accidents. The next phase of this collaboration was recently discussed at a three day workshop focussing on injury prevention and control. 

Discussing the implications of Alcohol and HIV/AIDS on road safety, the aim of this workshop was not only to share and learn from international experience but also to establish a national integration of governmental departments, provincial administrators and local municipalities. 

The link between driver health and road safety was clearly recognised in the strong attendance and participation by the National Department of Health. The Director of HIV/AIDS in Transport, Mokgadi Phokojoe, stressed that although no hard and fast statistics are available to prove the impact of HIV/AIDS on road safety, this link definitely does exist.

"HIV Positive drivers suffer from AIDS related fatigue and loss of concentration as well as weakness from severe wasting. Add to this the often negative effects of anti-retroviral treatments like dizziness and nausea and there can be no doubt that road safety will be compromised".

Speaking at this conference, Lorinda Stoltz from FleetWatch expressed grave concern regarding the failure of HIV/AIDS awareness in the trucking industry. "We dare not say that we are succeeding in our efforts when research shows that out of 320 drivers, 60% have suffered from a Sexually Transmitted Infection in the last six months".

Stoltz pointed out that of equal concern is the fact that although 70% out of 320 drivers have wives or long-standing girlfriends waiting at home, only 13% use condoms with these partners, while 34% always make use of prostitutes along the way!

Several strategies were devised to promote road safety in the midst of HIV/AIDS by integrating HIV/AIDS awareness with the National Arrive Alive Campaign and by stepping up awareness efforts to taxi, bus and truck drivers as well as traffic officials. Combined efforts will be made to secure universal access to prevention, care and 24/7 support for all health factors like TB, Malaria, Diabetes and Hypertension - not just HIV/AIDS.
 

Also present at the Arrive Alive / SWEROAD conference (from left): Onika Maphai from the Directorate of Substance Abuse, Lorinda Stoltz from FleetWatch and Dumisani Mnisi, Regional Campaign Manager for LoveLife.

IRTE Forum
Dr Nomonde Mabuya, medical advisor for Vodacom and representative of the South African Association for Occupational Medicine (SASOM), provided a detailed outline of the SASOM Guidelines to Driver Health and its legal implications - or should we rather say obstacles. 

Dr Nomonde Mabuya,  Medical Advisor for the Vodacom Group, provided a detailed outline of the SASOM Guidelines to Professional Driver Health

Guidelines to driver health issues like fatigue, eyesight, diabetes and alcohol are just that - guidelines meant for voluntary application by responsible operators. The only legal requirement for a professional driver to undergo a full medical is contained in the PrDP legislation - and that's only every two years. There is obviously more that should be done beyond the boundaries of the law.

The need for higher standards regarding just one health aspect relating to the professional driver, namely, eyesight, was proven in 2004 when FleetWatch, in partnership with Engen and the South African Optometric Association, determined that 7% of the 300 drivers who participated in a voluntary eye screening exercise were in fact "running blind!"

A sincere question from FleetWatch's Stoltz to the attending Forum members is now extended to all who read this page: "Why, when we know the facts and we can see its devastating results, do we wait for the law to force us to take action?"

There are means at our disposal to voluntarily alter a potentially disastrous situation - all we have to do is to take this issue seriously, and apply them. 

Gavin Kelly from AARTO, Janine Davy from the Association for Responsible Alcohol Use and Anesh Sukhai from the Medical Research Council provided valuable input at the recent Arrive Alive / SWEROAD conference hosted in Pretoria.