Hi there all you wonderful truckers and a warm welcome to the first issue of FleetWatch for 2005. This is not our first magazine of the year. That accolade went to TruckWatch – our annual compilation of truck model specifications which was sent out in January and has been extremely well received in the market. So no, we have not been indulging in an extended holiday at some beach hotel while all of you have been back at work. We’ve been working hard since the beginning of the year getting TruckWatch and now the first edition of FleetWatch out to you. Hope you like it and let me assure you: We’ve only just begun. We’ve got some really good things coming your way during the course of this year. And that is why it saddens me that - once again - we kick off the year by having to  report on the bad news of the past festive Season.

To be honest, it’s getting a bit boring starting every year off on a note of gloom yet here we are, once again, commenting on the dismal road safety performance of road users over the past Festive Season. Sure we could ignore it. Sure we could pretend it didn’t happen and instead focus all our attention on the positive year the trucking industry enjoyed last year and the expected great year ahead. We are doing that anyway in our ‘What lies Ahead’ feature in this edition. However, we choose not to ignore the carnage that took place out there. Why? Because we owe it to the dead and their bereaved families to highlight the accident statistics and trends in our on-going efforts to help stop the carnage and prevent more people from dying. You might feel it a bit callous that I use the word ‘boring’. Let me position that. There is nothing boring about a road death. There is only heart-ache – lots of it! What is boring, however, is that I find we are going over the same old thing year after year without seeing any advancement or improvement. John Marsh, my late good friend who many will remember as the editor of Truck & Bus magazine, once ‘profoundly’ stated while we were both looking deep into our beer-mugs: "Well, if nothing changes, I guess it will all remain the same." Too true John. Nothing has changed so it’s all remaining the same. 

Without going into the statistics as they are well detailed inside this issue, suffice to say that South Africa can once again hang its head in shame. As we’ve seen happen in past years, there are some organisations who are once again pointing fingers at the Government as the sole source of blame. This is wrong. Certainly there are action plans the Government could take to improve the situation, but they can only do so much. The rest is up to each and every motorist, taxi driver and trucker. It is up to every road user to take responsibility for his/her own actions out on the road. It is up to the individual to ensure that his/her vehicle is roadworthy, that he/she drives responsibly (such as maintaining a safe following distance), that he/she does not speed, takes regular rest breaks and so on. The Government cannot, for goodness sake, take responsibility for all this. What it can do – and has done through its Arrive Alive campaign – is promote an environment of  heightened awareness around the subject of road safety and in my humble opinion, in this it has succeeded. Ask anyone about Arrive Alive and they know of it. However, the real crux of the matter is: Do they act on it? When I see a Buckle Up sign under an Arrive Alive banner, do I buckle up? When I see a ‘Do not Drink and Drive’ message under an Arrive Alive banner, do I act on it? It seems, judging from the horrendous number of deaths on our roads, that many do not. So how on earth can we blame the Government for that? I do not let the ‘powers that be’ totally off the hook for, in terms of visible law enforcement, we are miles behind where we should be. We need better and more visible law enforcement. This is endorsed by South Africa’s leading traffic law enforcer, John Schnell, chief of the KZN Traffic Directorate. Commenting to FleetWatch on the overall Arrive Alive campaign, Schnell says the campaign works on a psychological level making motorists aware of road safety issues but it needs to be supported by highly visible law enforcement. "KZN conducted the country’s only roadside courts over the holiday period and were very efficient in prosecuting several high-speed lunatics. Our presence was boosted by the induction of 96 new officers who had just graduated from the training academy. They were extremely diligent, conducting comprehensive vehicle tests ‘by the book’, so to speak," he told us. So there you are: The two go hand-in-hand. But think on this: Why would we need more visible law enforcement if everyone was taking responsibility for their own actions? It’s a pipedream of course. We don’t live in an ideal world and there will always be those who don’t give a hoot about the safety of their fellow citizens. It is at those that the full might of the law enforcers must be directed. If you are practicing self regulation, you have nothing to fear from the law enforcers. It’s those who aren't who should be terrified of the consequences – yet they are not and this is where the Government needs to jack up. We want effective, efficient and stringent law enforcement to be applied against the miscreants. 

On a more positive note, truckers who plied the N3 over the holiday period can take a bow. According to Schnell, those truckers who were out on the road from around December 15th to January 10th doing essential services such as petrol and perishable product deliveries were, in his words, "an absolute pleasure to work with". Their manners to other road users and their general conduct was exemplary. So it’s a big thumbs up to those drivers and FleetWatch urges companies whose drivers were working the N3 over that period to pass that tribute on to them. They deserve a pat on the back. As we head off down the 2005 road, it is the wish of all of us at FleetWatch that we work hard on areas where improvements can be achieved so that when next February comes around, we can report on good rather than bad news about the 2005 Festive Season. To all of you wonderful people in this wonderful industry, let 2005 be a great one for you. Let’s keep on trucking! 

Patrick O'Leary
Managing Editor