INDUSTRY OBSERVATION

Drivers are on their own on this one

I quote and thank Ken Ramsden of Foresight Publications for reminding me that the working hours of truck drivers are not governed by the Department of Transport but by the Department of Labour. The significance of this will not be lost on any of your readers and it brought to mind the general - but not total - desperation of the lot of the truck driver.

I can only conclude that when something which is so critical to the industry is effectively delegated to a department that has no influence, bearing or care in terms of the transport function, surely this means that the matter will never be taken seriously or managed professionally. So will we ever have total effective management of Driving Hours? Somehow I can't stop feeling pessimistic on this one.

Worldwide, driver fatigue is a continuous cat and mouse scenario - and I don't mean Tom and Jerry humour. The cat is surely the transport company owner versus the mice (drivers) and the cats throughout the world have completely different levels of management practices towards the mice. Apologies to any transport operator who is ethical, caring and professional. 

What surprises me is that driver fatigue is deemed to be a southern African problem. I don't have experience of other markets but reading publications and through hearsay, South Africa clearly does not occupy a unique position on this front. Whether it be the much publicized case of Willi Betz in Germany with "Eastern Bloc" drivers, or American Owner Drivers, or drivers doing the southern Australian Melbourne run, it is all a question of "exploit without getting caught" for those who choose to.

In terms of the Insurance industry - as I have stated before - the obvious tell- tale operators are the ones where we pick up that the accident happened at 00h30 or 03h30 etc. I speculate the point is that in general, clearly nobody is going to protect or ensure that drivers are driving the correct legislated hours. In all our experience, I have never ever heard an operator tell me "what the hell was my driver (not a part 24 hour shift driver) doing driving at the time of the morning! Never mind having an accident!" In other words it never seems to be an issue!

So, in this rather negative environment, what is the synopsis? If this is the case, there are clearly no actual protection barriers so what are the methods being used to protect drivers?

A) Transport operators themselves. Let's call them the A class. They understand that the more the drivers are protected, the better the quality of the operation. They look after their drivers with practices such as debriefings and ensuring working time is professional and reasonable. These are the "minority".

B) Those drivers that are exploited.

a. Abuse manifests in behaviour like a driver parking his truck outside a police station, leaving the keys there and phoning the boss to tell him that he (the driver) is not returning. Inevitably we, as an Insurance company, first get a report that the truck is either AWOL or is assumed to be stolen. Then the whole truth comes out.

b. Accidents where the probability is that sleep/fatigue was the predominant cause:

i. This would be where trucks literally lose control- veer off course and crash/ fall over etc.
ii. Veer across roads into on-coming traffic for no apparent reason.
iii. Time critical

c. Those drivers, through economic circumstance, cannot afford to complain (eg. The Zim drivers)

In summary, I have to say that in general, drivers are "on their own" on this one! I suppose that is the amazingly positive thing in this whole issue. I stand in constant admiration of how hard some of these drivers work! The problem is that for those drivers that are abused, it is an admiration in exactly the same mould one would consider for desperate, suffering and exploited people!