Copyright © 2001 FleetWatch magazine and FleetWatch On-Line.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior written permission from the publishers. Views published are not necessarily those of the publishers.

Shocking Results!

We thought our first BrakeWatch exercise conducted at City Deep in Johannesburg showed up trucks in a bad light given that 21 out of 24 trucks inspected were served with Discontinuation of Service notices 
(see 'www.fleetwatch.co.za/Past Editions/February 2006' for that report).

Well, our second project - held in Middelburg towards the end of last year - opened our eyes even further. Out of a total of 35 trucks taken off the road and checked for defects, 24 were served with Discontinuation of Service notices. These included two Zimbabwean rigs which had driven all the way down from Bob's nightmare without trailer brakes. One of these rigs is highlighted in the photographs below. Note the braking force reading - nil! All in all, the rigs inspected over the day were in a sorry state of disrepair with only one out of 35 getting a clean bill of health. This stands as a serious indictment against the levels of professionalism in the ranks of South Africa's truckers.

This year we added a new component to the project to extend the exercise from brakes to include tyres. It is now known as Brake and Tyre watch. Bridgestone South Africa is on board as a partner with FleetWatch, Wabco, Control Instruments, Alfa International and Arrive Alive to not only train traffic officials on tyre matters but to be there on the day to highlight tyre faults. What they found on the trucks in Middelburg is truly mind-boggling and it is thus - solely due to space limitations - I have decided to break up the results over two editions. In this first part, we expose the tyre faults and in doing so, urge all operators to study the faults so ably highlighted and explained by Marcus Haw, Bridgestone's manager, field engineering, and to check such faults do not exist in your own fleet. In our March edition, we will highlight the brake and other faults found. It's all quite shocking stuff actually. 

My sincerest thanks go to our partners for their unbelievable enthusiasm, support and expertise. Without them, it would not happen. The photograph above shows the team with the Middelburg cops at the end of a good day's work. Thanks too to Hannes du Preez from Middelburg Traffic Department who not only travelled with his staff to Johannesburg for the training day, but also exhibited true professionalism in conducting the hands-on exercise the following day in Middelburg. Lastly, to Maryna Parsons of FleetWatch I say: Well done chick. Ya did good!