An embarrassing wake-up call.

I recently received a letter from Murray Wood who lives in the UK and drives fuel tankers for a German company. Here's what he wrote:

I have been living in the U.K for the past six years and year after year I keep a tab on the transport industry in South Africa by reading your FleetWatch magazine on line. Year on year I note that FleetWatch reports on the plight of the South African road user and year on year - in one awareness campaign after the next - the message of road safety and driver discipline is constantly flouted. In my opinion, the root of the problem is in the education of the driver and the operator. On that note, a few questions spring to mind.

1. What legislative measures have been implemented at national level to maintain a professional level of competence by the thousands of driving schools? The impression I get is that once a driver receives his/her "ticket" (by hook or by crook), then that's it.
2. Are haulage companies compelled by law to obtain an operator's licence/permit in order to trade? If this is so, then consignors and the consignees that don't comply should be prosecuted.
3. Does the haulage industry have a national and/or regional authority that analises tachos on an on-going basis? And if so, is there a penalty point system in place for specified infringements?
4. Do haulage companies have on-going training and annual refresher training programmes for their driver's? Are driver's transporting hazardous goods qualified to do so?

I'm sure if the above could have the I's dotted and the T's crossed, it would go some way to getting some discipline into the industry. Many thanks for your great magazine with all it's informative reading. I look forward to reading many more.

Murray Wood.
United Kingdom

Here's my reply to him:

Murray, what a 'boykie' you are. Thank you for taking the time to write and I must say, it thrills me that you are able to keep up to date on our local happenings via our web site. But the thrill turns to embarrassment when I have to answer your questions. Here goes:

1. 'Thousands of driving schools?' What!!! Please tell me you're kidding. We hardly have any apart from a few accredited establishments along with the training services provided by the truck manufacturers/suppliers for their own clients. This, in my opinion, is one of the biggest failings of this industry. As for legislative measures to "maintain a professional level of competence"; again, please tell me you're joking. There are none. Anyone can become a driving instructor. I can go out tomorrow and open a driving school without any professional competency or qualification required. As for the driver receiving his/her 'ticket', the requirement here is for all drivers of goods vehicles with a GVM of over 3 500kg to obtain a PrDP which is renewable every two years. However, you've hit the nail on the head when you say 'by hook or by crook' as driver licence fraud is a huge issue in this country. Eieeessh! (That's African for 'Gee Whiz' or 'Golly Gosh').
2. Yes, you have to be a registered operator in order to trade but you don't require any formal qualification to be registered. Anyone can go out tomorrow and start a transport company without any qualification to do so. As for consignors and consignees, apart from liability in the Dangerous Goods arena, they are completely off the hook. Much needed legislation to make consignors jointly responsible for infringements of legal loads (overloading), for example, has been on the books for some time but it has fallen off the Parliamentary roster - and this despite the Minister of Transport saying he wants it in place. When he'll get it in place, who knows?
3. No, there is no national and/or regional authority that analises tachos on an on-going basis? Tachos are not even compulsory in this country. And no, there is no penalty points system in place for specified infringements. The introduction of a penalty points system has been on the cards for some time but like so many other actions that could be taken by Government to improve the situation, nothing has come of it. I must also throw in the fact that there is no legislation in place pertaining to driving hours despite driver fatigue being a huge issue in this country.
4. The more responsible companies do have on-going and refresher courses for their drivers - normally in-house in the absence of outside training institutions (see point 1). However, it is entirely up to the truck operator whether or not to conduct such activities. Given the increased pressure on the industry to deliver the ever increasing volumes of goods, driver training activities have been put on the back burner by many companies. Our rail system has failed dismally in its duties to serve the economy and this has put more trucks on the roads and more pressure to keep the wheels of those trucks rolling. As for Hazardous Goods drivers, they need a 'D' qualification on their PrDP which they can only get through training. They are probably the most qualified drivers but again, there are huge flaws in this arena which space does not permit me going into here.

That's it Murray and I must say that your questions have given me a sharp 'kick-in-the-butt' wake-up call. I thought we were doing pretty well on this side of the world but what you ask are such basic requirements for road safety and professional operations - and we hardly have any in place. The fact that you ask means they are obviously in place in the UK which puts us miles behind you guys. Answering your questions has made me realise that we have much further to go than I had ever thought - Best regards.....

I share this correspondence with our readers because, as stated to Murray, it really did give me a genuine wake-up call. How does it make you feel? Are we really that far behind or am I just being over-sensitive? Please let me know.

Patrick O'Leary
Managing Editor