Authorities back down on axle ruling

Threats of court action against the contentious 12-tonne axle limit in the Western Cape – a “completely impractical ruling”, according to abnormal truckers – appear to be rapidly fading. In March of this year, at the height of the abnormal loads truckers’ antipathy towards what they termed “an impossible” ruling arbitrarily imposed by the Western Cape provincial traffic authority, court action was very much on the cards. Justified, they said, because this load limitation was putting most of the trailers and trucks in the abnormal loads industry off the roads in the Cape. At first Gavin Kelly, technical and operations manager of the Road Freight Association (RFA), told FTW that the association’s court action had been delayed – although it was still presenting its case to the minister of transport. Then last week, Edward Poole of Edlynway Transport & Cranes in the Cape, told us that a hauliers’ case, by a group of particularly vociferous objectors to the ruling in the province, had also been withdrawn. “The other guys were backing down on this,” he said. But he added that the provincial traffic authority was now granting permits for 28t per rear axle, and sometimes 32t – although he described the approval process as “a major battle”. This, according to Carl Webb, MD of Durban’s Project Logistics Management and member of the abnormal loads committee at the RFA, was typical short-sighted thinking. “As long as they can get what they want, they won’t take the longer view that the totally impractical 12t limit is still in the rule book – even though its application appears to be on hold at the moment.” But the battle is not yet over. The RFA has commissioned the CSIR to conduct a study on the impact of abnormal loads on roads in an effort to bring some scientific data to the debate. And one last legal battle against the limit may still be imminent. According to Poole, a group of Gauteng abnormal truckers may still have a court case planned. But FTW was unable to get this confirmed before print deadline. So it remains a case of: Watch this space. CAPTION & INSERT The totally impractical 12t limit is still in the rule book — even though its application appears to be on hold at the moment. – Carl Webb