THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE

April 2009

	The team... keeping a tab on emissions.         While there are exceptions to the rule, the Johannesburg City Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) maintains that most commercial vehicles in the Johannesburg area comply with current emission laws. Seen here a DEA member tests emissions from a vehicle stopped in Beyer Naude drive, Honeydew

Control manager for the Johannesburg City Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) Justice Netshandama, (front), with members of his

“The Metro Police have set up a roadblock and are pulling all the trucks off the road in Beyers Naude Drive. It looks like a ‘traffic blitz’. Do you know what’s going on?” The call came through to the FleetWatch office on a weekday morning and the caller, although not frantic, was quite excited and was seemingly perplexed that we could not provide them with an immediate answer. 

Senior journalist Andrew Parker jumped into the car and found the ‘roadblock’ not far from the FleetWatch office in Honeydew. Far from being a roadblock or a ‘traffic blitz’, it was the Johannesburg City Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) who, assisted by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police, were conducting exhaust emissions checks on the trucks plying up and down this busy route. 

Having written on numerous occasions on the large number of ‘Puffing Billies’ driving our roads, it was a welcome sight seeing that something was being done about monitoring the quality of air coming from the exhaust pipes of Jo’burg trucks. 

Control manager Justice Netshandama was the man in charge and told FleetWatch that the DEA conducts emission tests in and around Johannesburg on a regular basis. He said there are a number of facets to the tests. 

“Out of the total vehicle population - trucks, cars, taxis and buses - the DEA wants to determine the split between petrol and diesel powered vehicles. From this they should be able to quantify the pollution levels created by the local vehicle population.” He explained that each municipality is responsible for its own testing procedures in its own area of jurisdiction. 

Johannesburg, for example, is divided into seven regions in which emission checks are conducted on a regular basis. Netshandama says the department’s target is 700 vehicle per month per region, or around 5 000 trucks per year. Netshandama explains that the emission limit on trucks is 70 Hartridge Smoke Units (HSU*) which he claims is “generous.” 

As a measure of where South Africa stands in the international community, the HSU limit in India is 65, 40 in Pakistan, and 50 in Malaysia. “We would like to reduce our figure to 60 HSU but this will take time as there are a lot of older trucks on the road,” said Netshandama. 

The emission limit on South African trucks is 70 Hartridge Smoke Units compared to 40 in Pakistan and 50 in Malaysia.

If a vehicle exceeds the 70 HSU limit, the driver is given a notice stating that the vehicle must be repaired or serviced within 30 days after which it must be re-tested. 

Netshandama says on average, local trucks are “not that dirty.” “The newer vehicles are not a major problem but the older trucks do not always meet stipulated emission standards.” 

Incidentally, if anyone wants to question the validity of Netshandama’s tests, he says they are conducted in accordance with the Atmospheric Pollution Act No. 45 of 1965. Subsection 36.