MEC Firoz Cachalia has stated that the Gauteng Department of Community Safety plans to recall 45000 unlicensed vehicles before the end of March 2010 and has already cancelled 486 learner’s licences and 62 Professional Driving Permits (PrDPs). Richard Macaskill reports. 

The learner’s licences and PrDps were all fraudulently issued. Furthermore, the department has shut down three vehicle testing stations and has issued seven more with warnings. These actions are a result of the department’s road safety strategy.

Everyone knows there are a great number of hazards on South African roads today and while potholes and a lack of maintenance spring to mind, arguably the greatest hazards on our roads are unroadworthy vehicles and unlicensed drivers - hence the importance of this road safety strategy. 

The road safety strategy has been in place since 2006 but we are now finally starting to see results. The Gauteng Department of Community Safety was expanded in 2004 and its role included managing road safety and as such, the strategy was put in place. The department was given a mandate to reduce road fatalities by 30% by the end of their current tenure but according to Mandla Radebe, spokesperson for the Gauteng Department of Community Safety, this has already been surpassed and the department currently stands at a reduction rate of 35%. 

Radebe says there was no concrete strategy that looked at road safety before the mandate was widened and the current road safety strategy is a multi-faceted one that focuses on making sure all aspects of road safety are covered. 

Chris du Preez, director of compliance at the Gauteng Department of Community Safety, says there are also plans to recall 10 000 unroadworthy vehicles by the end of this financial year, with 3 443 vehicles already having been recalled. This is over and above the 45 000 total revealed by MEC Cachalia. 

Radebe refers to five Es in terms of the strategy: Enforcement, Evaluation, Engineering, Emergency services and Education. Each of these is crucial in ensuring Gauteng roads are as safe as can be. The department is of the opinion that safety is an all-encompassing issue. Everyone needs to be involved and all aspects of the strategy must be focused on in order to successfully improve road safety. 

Mandla Radebe... strategy encompasses five E's: enforcement, evalutation, engineering, emergency services and education - all critical to ensure Gauteng roads become safer.

Enforcement to the fore

Enforcement is one of the major areas of emphasis of the road safety strategy. The department has been running a set of road safety audits in order to discover where the weaknesses in road safety may be, and Radebe notes, “one of the major areas was fraud and corruption.” This extends from fraudulently issued learner’s licences to an undisclosed dealer receiving roadworthy certificates without his vehicles ever having left the showroom floor - and everything in between. 

“As part of the road safety strategy we are trying to stamp out fraud and corruption at the vehicle testing stations as well as at the driver’s licence testing centres,” says Radebe. “Our road safety auditors can go into the stations and evaluate them to identify and detect weaknesses.” 

At the time of writing, 72 people had been arrested for fraud and corruption with six of them receiving sentences ranging from an R8 000 fine to 18 months in prison. “The department is doing everything it can to make sure that people get prosecuted,” says Radebe. 

The department also has access to a central accident capturing unit which gives detailed reports of road accidents. This enables them to gain a deeper understanding of traffic accidents in Gauteng so as to effectively go about their mandate of reducing road fatalities. Du Preez adds that when a heavy vehicle is involved in an accident, an investigation is done to see if its roadworthy certificate was actually in legitimate order. 

“Fraud and corruption are certainly big problems,” says Radebe. “This is why the department has a special unit responsible only for stamping out fraud and corruption. The department is also working in conjunction with the Gauteng Traffic Police and the localised Metro Police departments in order to get a firmer, more widespread as well as more localised grip on the issue of road safety. 

More recently a special anti-truck hijacking unit was launched. “This was one of the serious problem areas identified,” says Radebe. 

According to Radebe, as far as enforcement is concerned, drinking and driving, reckless driving, negligent driving, speeding and of course, illegally licensed drivers are high on the list of priorities for the road safety strategy. A physical presence of enforcement on the roads is hugely important in this regard. 

As with almost anything, education is of the utmost importance. Everyone needs to be educated on road safety, from individuals to testing stations, to businesses and even government. 

There are also certain issues regarding competence in terms of many traffic officials not knowing what to look for when it comes to testing trucks for roadworthiness. Education can help this – as has been proved via the FleetWatch Brake and Tyre Watch project. Education of examiners at vehicle testing stations and driver’s licence testing centres is also seen as being critical. 

	Brake and Tyre Watch,  conducted on a regular basis by FleetWatch and various industry partners, plays an important role in educating traffic officials on the vagaries of checking the roadworthiness of trucks.

Everyone is a stakeholder 

The role and participation of all stakeholders is crucial in this project and everyone is a stakeholder when it comes to road safety. Government, the business community and individual members of the public all need to play their part in improving safety on our roads. “We’ve already established a good working relationship with Business Against Crime and are hoping their help will be expanded to our road safety strategy and beyond,” says Radebe. 

Cooperation is of the utmost importance in order to see the continued success of the road safety strategy. This means that people must not become part of the unlawful system. No-one can complain about corruption if they are operating an unlicensed vehicle or employing drivers without the correct licence - or slipping an officer R100 to get out of a fine. Everyone needs to be on board to ensure that road safety stays high on the list of government’s priorities and that, slowly but surely, we see the improvements so desperately needed. 

Chris Du Preez can be contacted on (011) 689 3636 if any operators wish to make arrangements to check whether or not their trucks are roadworthy.