CSIR looks into abnormal load legislation

RESEARCH IS under way into the practical implications of current legislation governing the movement of abnormal loads and results should be available within months. “Years ago when the legislative document was drawn up it was based on the facilities and manpower available then,” says RFA technical and operations manager Gavin Kelly. The technical recommendations for highways – TRH 11 – date back to 1971. While they were revised in 1979, 1981, 1987, 1992, 1997, and again in 2000, according to Natro Freight’s Carl Webb, the revisions were minimal and in his view did not improve the abnormal load industry in any way. “When this document was originally published, there were no freeways, only highways. The country and abnormal load industry has progressed way beyond these regulations,” said Webb. When it comes to escorting, for example, provinces have stated that they don’t have enough manpower – and then enforce embargoes over weekends . “Should we look at creating capacity within the industry to provide the escorting services if that’s the only issue or is the issue the route?” asks Kelly. “The research will be looking at all those parameters.” There’s also the question of embargoes created around peak traffic times like holidays and weekends. “One understands that you don’t want huge vehicles interacting with huge volumes of traffic, but on the other hand there are a lot of projects for 2010 that require goods to move as quickly as possible – it’s a delicate balance that needs to take both sides into account.” The Department of Transport has appointed a service provider at the CSIR to examine the issue and report back on its findings.