‘Business owners should face prosecution for drivers’ offences’

A NEWS item on Cargo Info Africa, FTW’s sister online publication, has generated considerable reader feedback on the punishment meted out for traffic transgressions, with particular reference to truck drivers. The article pointed out that while the number of road accidents involving trucks – and motor vehicles – was well documented in the media, follow-up coverage on the punishment of guilty drivers was less evident. In this context reference was made to an article in UK-based freight journal IFW. It recorded the case of a truck driver jailed for eight years and banned from driving for life after he fell asleep at the wheel of his 18-tonne lorry while travelling along the M20 in Kent. The truck ploughed into an oncoming BMW, instantly killing its two occupants. Most of the feedback has been in favour of stiffer sentences in South Africa. “I believe the law should come down far more heavily not only on truck/bus drivers but also the owners of the businesses for whom these drivers work,” said Grant Fraser. Industry commentators told FTW that the severity of this punishment was not unusual in the UK – but that in South Africa, very often, punishment amounted to little more than a slap on the wrist. Gavin Kelly, technical and operations manager of the Road Freight Association and chairman of the Committee for Active Road Safety (CARS), told FTW it was quite easy to find out what sentences had been handed out to individuals in SA through the reported cases or through any legal library. In a recent incident in SA, he told FTW, the personal driver of the Minister of Transport was allegedly four times over the legal limit allowed by the Road Traffic Act – but did not incur the R20 000 maximum fine whereas others who have been “over the limit” have received harsher sentences. One industry source however felt that the new points demerit system, currently in pilot phase in Tshwane, was a huge step in the right direction. It is one element of the Administrative Adjudication of Traffic Offences Act (AARTO) that appears to have most resonance with the public and one which has been most effective in reducing traffic offences in a number of other countries, according to the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC). It will however only be introduced in the national roll-out in early 2009, and is not part of the Tshwane pilot project. In a nutshell, if a driver commits a traffic offence, a predetermined number of points allocated to that offence will be awarded against his licence. After 12 points have been exceeded, there is an automatic driving ban for a period in months equal to 3 times the number of points by which 12 is exceeded i.e. if a driver reaches 14 points he will be banned from driving for a period of 6 months.