THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE

Let's just do it.
Let's take charge of our own destiny

We need to take things into our own hands." What am I talking about? Well, I'm talking about an industry sector called trucking - one that is vital to the economic well being of not only this country but indeed to the region as a whole. I'm talking about an industry sector which, over the past years, has taken up the slack imposed by the dismal performance of the State's railways to haul goods to the satisfaction of the market, the economy and to our new status as a global player. I'm talking about an industry sector which, over the past years, has run 24/7 in keeping the goods of the economy moving - and this at a time when the industry itself is facing some of the biggest challenges ever thrown its way; the critical driver shortage caused, in part, by the loss of experienced drivers to the scourge of HIV/AIDS which has not been stemmed by eating piled-up plates of beetroot as Mini-Rambo-Manto would have us believe, is just one of those challenges. I would, without hesitation, go so far as to confidently state that the trucking industry has come to the rescue of South Africa in the face of an infrastructural shortfall which lags miles behind meeting the requirements and demands of the today's South Africa. As Max Braun states in his article titled Factors Influencing Transport Efficiency inside this edition: "Look at the facts: nearly two million new jobs, an emerging middle-class with buying power, two million new vehicles on our roads in little more than the past two years, strong economic fundamentals, super-efficient tax collections, responsible money management. In plain language, South Africa has outgrown itself."

So where am I going with all this. Well, despite the critical role this industry has played in meeting the growth needs of South Africa, it is still a Cinderella and an irritant in the eyes of all. Yes, long-time readers of FleetWatch will recognise this as one of my traditional 'gripes' but something has changed. In the past, the fact that the trucking industry was not recognised for its role was an agitating irritant - like itchy powder. Now, however, the 'gripe' has embedded itself as a long, vicious Acacia thorn which is sitting there causing a red, ugly, inflamed wound which is now starting to ooze puss. Why? Simply because rather than being removed by the doctors, it is being pushed in deeper to cause even more serious repercussions. No-one in the top political echelons gives two hoots about this industry - and why should they given that they are hard-pressed in activities like dishing out constructive, leadership-inspired advice to those who think crime is bad to rather leave the country than moan (an increasing number of whom are taking the advice); defending Mini-Rambo-Manto in her never-ending reign of controversial ineptitude; finding new ways of keeping silent on the hardships Zimbabweans are facing under the insane rule of Mad Bob Mugabe - and so it goes on and on and on. It's all such boring, non-value adding stuff. It's all non-visionary. It's all so regressive instead of progressive. The only time any politician - national or provincial - pays attention to this industry is when they need some chant to muster support and invariably that's when they latch onto the highly impractical 'let's move all goods from road to rail' chant. In the meantime, the very real problems of an industry sector - which unlike the majority of our political 'leaders' is doing such constructive work in asking what it can do for its' country , instead of what the country can do for it - are being ignored. There is, of course, another time politicians focus on the industry and that is when some truck ploughs into a line-up of cars leaving broken bodies scattered all over the road. That's when they all come out in unison decrying the trucking industry and using such incidents to justify and give substance to their 'let's move all goods off the road onto rail' chants. The fact that every night truck drivers are killed, maimed and injured as a result of being over-worked and highly pressurised, is missed by them. One truck driver's death does not give much ammunition for political mileage. But when a coach load of tourists flies off a cliff - wow, that's a different thing. That's real meat for political mileage. That's like a national political gathering where all of them climb on the band-wagon to decry buses, coaches, trucks - and everything else above those high-speed escort convoys that haul our politicians to gatherings - as scourges on South Africa's roads and blots on South Africa's good track record. "We just cannot allow this to happen to our tourists. We must clamp down and improve standards to ensure the safety of all our foreign guests." Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then, when CNN leaves, they all go back to whatever it is they do.

It is because of all this that I state that "we need to take things into our own hands." This industry is facing a number of very serious challenges and there are none more qualified in finding ways of meeting those challenges than those operating in the sector. We do not need politicians to lead us out of the many crisis facing us for, contrary to the image of trucking as a lowly profession, some of South Africa's most innovative, inventive, constructive, informed, learned, astute, creative and inspired brains reside in this industry. The collective brain-power encased in South Africa's trucking industry is, quite simply, awesome and the beauty is that we have a mix of old-timer experience as well as newcomer enthusiasm and exuberance that can be harnessed and used for the good of all. This industry has within it a mix of Gary Player and Ernie Els. Both are great golfers but the more modern and technologically advanced tools available to Ernie are enabling him to do things Gary couldn't do with what was available to him in his hey-days. Now imagine putting Gary and Ernie together into one package. Eieeesh! Tiger Woods would be a mere blip on the horizon. And that is what FleetWatch intends doing. Inside this edition, we focus on accidents but instead of just reporting on the statistics, FleetWatch is taking an active stance to harness the collective brain power of this industry so as to find ways of improving the situation out on the roads. Sure there will always be accidents, especially in these times when the trucking industry is so hard pressed in admirably serving its country - but it needn't be as serious as we are now seeing. And it will get worse so let's not wait for the politicians. Let's do it ourselves and lead the politicians rather than wait for them to lead us - wishful thinking on that latter point hey.

In line with this, FleetWatch is launching a new initiative called the FleetWatch Brains Trust where our intention is to harness the brain power of this industry - and invite Government in as well - to find implementable solutions to improve the situation on the roads. Don't think 'talk-shop'. Think 'action' for that is what is needed. More will follow on this but this is just to inform our readers that we are 'gatvol' with waiting for someone to take the lead. Let us, as an industry, take charge of our own destiny. We are deadly serious about this. It can be done. Let's just do it!