According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation's (RTMC) 2006 Accident Report, local road safety campaigns of the past have not had much success because they have not been supported and followed up by strong and visible law enforcement actions. While motorists are largely to blame for the road carnage, truckers and commercial fleets are by no means blameless and should work harder at helping reduce the accident rate. The fact that the South African road freight industry now has a degree of cohesion via bodies like the RFA enables partnerships to be formed to drive road safety initiatives, specifically via the adoption of 'best practice' policies and procedures writes Paul Collings.

The fight to meaningfully reduce road accidents is a global one, with over 3 000 people dying every day on roads around the world. Road accidents have been called the 'hidden epidemic' and organisations both public and private are joining forces to make our planet's roads safer. Seen at this level, the problem may seem insurmountable and far removed from the daily work of delivering freight. However, with coordinated effort from both government and the trucking industry, improvements in truck safety can be made to benefit operators, their clients, the general public and the economy. 

What follows is a FleetWatch blueprint for enhanced truck safety and accident prevention...

Fleet Management systems operated and managed by committed personnel who execute appropriate interventions with truck drivers play a significant role in accident prevention.

Government is gearing up to push a self regulation approach to best practice trucking. Here Transport Minister Jeff Radebe inspects a new vehicle test facility on the N4, which will be instrumental in persuading operators to comply with road traffic law. Transport managers need to use driver and load monitoring technologies to ensure quality and legal compliance.

New truck technology like automatic/tiptronic gearboxes, turbocharged fuel injection and retarders are designed to make trucks safer and more efficient, but drivers need training on how best to use these innovations. Ongoing driver training is an essential ingredient to any operation wanting Best Practice status.

Driver skills and fitness
The acute shortage of skilled truck drivers in South Africa is an issue well documented in this magazine. The lack of sufficient, quality driver training institutions only adds to the problem, as does the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, resulting in a driver pool that is not only diminishing but of a low skills level as well. 

The growing demand for road freight hauliage has led to in an increase in new truck sales figures. These vehicles are mostly 'new-generation' models which require specialised driving skills (how best to use an auto-shift gearbox and retarder, for example), generally not taught by commercial driving instructors because they use older vehicles to train learner truck drivers. 

The upshot of these shortcomings is that the majority of trucks on our roads are being driven by under-qualified drivers. Add to this the fact that no law exists to govern driver working hours and you're looking at a juggernaut being piloted by a fatigued, under-skilled driver - an accident waiting to happen.

So what needs to be done to plug these gaps? The establishment of more accredited driver training schools where PrDPs are issued to drivers who have passed a stringent exam both theoretical and practical, using a fully loaded interlink is crucial to meet industry requirements. On-going driver training is also necessary to keep drivers 'up-to-speed' on new truck technology.

The causal link between driver fatigue and accidents is beyond question and there is a growing call for driving hours to be regulated by law, as they are in Europe, for example. 

Vehicle fitness
According to the 2006 RTMC report, out of a parc of 279 780 registered trucks, more than 29 000 of these vehicles were unroadworthy, as were over 9% of all registered heavy trailers (11 300). The shoddy maintenance of many local fleets has also been exposed through FleetWatch's Brake & Tyre Watch initiatives where on average, 80% of trucks examined failed basic roadworthy tests.

Measures to curb the running of unsafe vehicles need to be enhanced. Weighbridges on major toll routes are being upgraded with new technologies and additional skills into full vehicle testing stations which should prove effective in limiting the numbers of 'illegal' trucks using these roads.

Improved law enforcement and prosecution
As stated earlier in this article, it is common knowledge that traffic law enforcement in this country has much room for improvement. Basically, we need more properly trained cops actively patrolling our roads, comprehensively inspecting vehicles for faults and apprehending offenders. The issue of better pay to counteract bribery almost goes without saying.

The introduction of a 'points demerit' system, such as is outlined in the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO) will no doubt help keep operators, drivers and motorists on the right side of the law. According to RTMC ceo Thabo Tsholetsane, the AARTO pilot project is currently being rolled out in Tshwane and the Act should come into effect next year.

Using technology
The adoption of truck safety technologies like EBS, ABS, ESP, lane limiters, proximity control etc. is indisputably a 'best practice' route for any truck owner. These technologies have already proved themselves abroad where truck accident numbers have been reduced as a direct result of their fitment. 

Truck and driver monitoring technologies are also an integral part of making trucks safer. Whether it's a tachograph, a real-time constant-monitoring digital (GPS/GPRS) 'black box' or an in-cab camera/recorder, these devices not only keep driver behaviour optimal, they assist in accident investigations, helping fleet managers pinpoint unsafe areas in their operations.

Media exposure
Implementing road safety strategies is all about communications within and between organisations as well as with the general public. A coordinated anti-accident initiative must effectively disseminate information across a spectrum of media (print, electronic, outdoor etc.) to create escalating levels of awareness at all levels of society, from school kids upwards.

Best practice incentives
The concept of self regulation within the road freight industry is beginning to gain momentum with the successes already realised in the timber, sugar cane and paper and pulp industries. Operators who have strict quality management in place should be offered some form of financial reward, above those gleaned internally from running more efficiently.

Insurance premium rebates are one means of achieving this, as demonstrated by Trucksurance Risk Services, which last year handed back over R2m in dividends to its 'lowest-risk' customers. The fact that the company actively manages via tacho analysis the 'on-road risk' of truck and driver assists operators realise the benefits. More truck insurers should do this, with dividend payouts.

Transport Minister Jeff Radebe intimated recently that the newly formed Road Transport Management System will reward accredited 'self regulating' operators, certainly by being allowed to bypass weighbridges but also perhaps through financial incentives, as yet to be determined.

Joint responsibility
The RTMC has been established to directly address a number of issues plaguing our road transport system, not least of which is the phenomenal road accident rate in South Africa. Tsholetsane says that a new UN-led initiative called the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) has been included in the RTMC's sphere of operations. 

"By bringing public and private members into the GRSP South Africa (GRSPSA), we have been able to implement a number of successful road safety projects that include educating the youth with regards to road safety, promoting pedestrian safety and seatbelt use, as well as the development of a safe vehicle fleet programme targeting drivers of heavy goods vehicles and buses. The project also targets employees of these fleet operators to create as much awareness as possible," he says.

This is encouraging news and suggests that the 'brains trust' mooted in the previous article might have a ready-made springboard...watch this space...