|
|
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. |
The
objectives of Brake & Tyre Watch are not only to highlight brake
and tyre defects on trucks operating on the roads but also to
empower the traffic and police officials with knowledge that will
better equip them to do their jobs. To this end, the Middelburg day
was preceded by a day of training held at Wabco’s Training Centre
in Edenvale. Traffic officials from both Middelburg and Tshwane were
trained by experts drawn from our project partners: Wabco on air
brakes, Alfa International on brake drums, discs and pads, and
Bridgestone South Africa on tyres. All officers then moved to the
premises of Acsa-Mag where Sean Annandale, the ever willing
technical manager, airbrakes for Acsa-Mag, took the cops through a
hands-on demo of what they had learnt in the classroom using a
Lobtrans trailer.
All who attended the course were most appreciative and, more important, were full of confidence the next day when they had to do handson inspections of trucks for braking and tyre defects. "We now know more of the details of what we are looking for when finding faults on these trucks," said one. Interesting is a comment from another: "Some of these trucks have been driving around this area for a long time and we haven’t seen the faults. Now, after training and working with you guys, we can spot them from a long way off and bring them in." In the great scheme of things, South Africa has tended to forget that empowerment is not only about BEE issues. It is also about imparting knowledge. After one day of training, we saw empowerment in action the next day when 24 out of 35 trucks were taken off the roads by a revitalised and more confident, empowered traffic force. It’s true: Knowledge is Power.’
|
|||||||||||||||
