FleetWatch - Letters

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July 2006

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Who
do we turn to?

Much has been written in your exceptional journal regarding the sad state of affairs insofar as road transport is concerned. Your "Road Warrior" of some time back put it very clearly with regard to the traffic officers being blamed for all the ills of the mechanical world. The National Government has salved their collective consciences by stating that the accident and death rate has increased over the past couple of years, although some person alleges - falsely - that the reporting is better? "The equivalent of a fully loaded 747 crashing every week!" And yet they want to open the investigation into the Helderberg disaster again!!!

Max Braun speaks about bigger and better trucks on the roads. The legal system does not consider road safety to be of a high priority! The road system is bearing the brunt of the assault. The engineers are tearing their hair out and begging for action. The Department of Transport is passing more and more amendments and laws to confuse everyone. The Ministers, MECs and councillors admit that there are not enough Traffic Officers on the road. The Metro Cities have moved over to interfering in SAPS work and have 'abandoned' traffic enforcement. The Provincial authorities are not employing nor training their officers to achieve the best results. Weighbridges are unmanned or only work between 8am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

When you look at the attached photos, please tell me what are we to do? To whom do we turn? Traffic Officers do not get the training that is essential for them to do their work professionally. Compulsory stop weigh bridges are unmanned - no personnel! The higher levels, all the way up to Directors, do not appear to be concerned. MPs and MECs have more important things to worry about! These defects were on a truck with a "valid roadworthy certificate issued by a private testing station". I would like to know how he managed to get from the Eastern Cape to Cape Town without being stopped?

To whom do we turn to stop this carnage?
To whom do we turn to take these vehicles off the road?
To whom do we turn to stop this corruption?
To whom do we turn to address professionalism amongst the trucking fraternity?
To whom do we turn for JUSTICE?
Please, if you have any idea let us all know as soon as possible.

P.S.Williamson
Ex-Road Warrior

Editor's Comment: The answer, Mr Williamson, is to turn to the President of this country, Mr Thabo Mbeki. That is what we're trying to do but we're not sure if he's even listening. As you state - and as the pictures you submitted clearly prove - no-one else is listening so we reckon the President, as the person in charge of this country, is the one to seek answers from - and we're trying to get his attention. Please refer to my Editor's Comment in the March edition of FleetWatch titled 'What more do you need than 12 000 deaths Mr President'. In the same edition, we ran an article titled 'Call for Minister of Road Traffic Safety' which, if such a call is heeded, will need the input of the President. I also refer you to the Editor's comment in our June edition titled 'We don't want the next one to be you' and urge you to read that in conjunction with an article in the same edition on page 73 titled 'Mr President, you need to walk in the blood'. You will then see that we have given up on other avenues and are now trying to get the top man's attention. I'm not sure how many more people will die on our roads before we do get that attention - quite a few hundred I'd venture - but perhaps if you addressed your concerns to the President - and if everyone else did the same by inundating his office with your concerns and demands for answers, we might just combine to succeed in seeing some action being taken. Like you, we are tired of the lack of political will to change things. We are tired of seeing things getting worse and worse. We need action - and that action needs to come from the top if it is to be effective.

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