There’s been a strong call for a review of current “flawed and outdated” driver’s licence testing requirements for the country’s 900 000 professional drivers. The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is pushing for stricter testing regulations as one of the measures to address escalating road carnage following harrowing festive season statistics in which 1 612 people lost their lives. Transport legislation consultant Alta Swanepoel pointed out that the draft National Transport Policy (NTP), released for comment last year, called for every licensed driver to be re-tested every five years – something for which the RTMC was
also advocating. “This is just not practical however,” she pointed out. “The national and provincial road legislation authorities simply do not have the time and the capacity to ensure this would be conducted timeously. “Drivers have, for the past few decades, been allowed to take the test in whichever province or city they choose and this makes planning impossible. Therefore resources at certain testing stations are very low while there’s an oversupply of resources elsewhere,” explained Swanepoel. As a result, there are delays of up to nine months for current learner drivers waiting to take the test. She said there would be further delays if 12 million people needed to be tested again every five years. “Now, imagine you are a
commercial driver; if you can’t drive, you can’t earn. So it’s very tempting when you encounter someone standing outside the testing centre telling you they can obtain an illegal licence for you within two days,” Swanepoel commented. She said that the current corruption around issuing of fraudulent licences would escalate, putting more unlicensed and untested drivers on South Africa’s roads. “However, if you start with reviewing the testing requirements for commercial drivers, it’s going to be much easier to implement and will already dramatically cut down on road carnage,” she said. This is for two reasons, one being that professional drivers log up to 300 000 to 400 000 kilometres per month on the national roads, compared to the average 20 000 to 30 000 logged by individuals. “Secondly, professional drivers usually handle heavyduty vehicles like trucks and buses and the potential loss of life is just that much higher,” highlighted Swanepoel.
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Professional drivers log about 300 000 to 400 000 kilometres per month. – Alta Swanepoel
