‘Abnormal’ truckers hit another speed bump

Any hopes amongst SA’s heavyweight truckers that the draft of the reviewed TRH 11 – the guidelines to the transport of abnormal loads in SA – would be available for their perusal after the department of transport’s ALTC (abnormal load technical committee) meeting on September 11-12, have been dashed. According to Sampie Swanepoel, MD of Transvaal Heavy Transport and head of the Road Freight Association (RFA) abnormal load division, it now looks as though abnormal truckers won’t get sight of the draft until next month at the earliest. “There are a few issues still outstanding,” he said, “but the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) must have the final report ready by the end of October to submit to the department. “We then hope that this final draft – which we expect to address all the concerns of the industry – will be released to all stakeholders.” As it stands at the moment, transport authorities round the country have various restrictions on the movement of abnormal loads over weekends, public holidays and at night. The abnormal truckers want these restrictions to be eased - and these lessstrict rules to be nationally standardised. But the RFA has already been dismayed by the DoT attitude to private sector input. “We are a bit disappointed because the RFA asked to be part of the working group in preparing the draft,” Swanepoel told FTW. “But they rejected us as part of this process.” However, Swanepoel hoped that the department of transport would be willing to listen to abnormal truckers’ feelings once the final draft of the reviewed TRH 11 is up for public comment later this year.