Abnormal load guidelines hit further delay

While the deadline day for the publication of a revised document on the guidelines for the movement of abnormal loads in South Africa was October 1, the draft is still on its travels through the department of transport (DoT), according to Sampie Swanepoel, MD of Transvaal Heavy Transport and head of the Road Freight Association (RFA) abnormal loads division. And, Swanepoel added, without the draft in hand, the abnormal road haulage industry was still in doubt about whether the matter of easing restrictions on transport over weekends, public holidays and at night was part of the new guidelines. It certainly seems to have been one of the key issues as far as the department of transport (DoT) is concerned. FTW has been led to believe that traffic studies have been done, and collated into the findings of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). And these, according to Swanepoel’s investigations, were sent as a final draft to the DoT on October 5. This document, he told FTW, will be examined by the department’s abnormal loads technical committee, and – if approved – will then be put before the abnormal load stakeholders for their comments. “Once all this has been done,” Swanepoel said, “and final approval given, then the new guidelines should be promulgated.” But that’s likely to take time, he added, particularly with the uncertainty of elections in the offing.