Road freight safety in South Africa could benefit from having awareness campaigns reintroduced at primary school level, says Justin Manson, sales director at transport telematics company, Webfleet.
Speaking about the company’s current Fleet Road Safety Survey, Manson expressed his hope that this year’s findings wouldn’t reveal a disproportionate number of collisions involving trucks but caused by other road users.
One of the most startling revelations of last year’s inaugural road safety survey conducted by Webfleet was that 70-odd per cent of all accidents involving trucks had not actually been caused by truck drivers, Manson said.
“What struck me was the number of respondents (representing 46 transport companies in total) that reported accidents caused by other road users.”
He added that it showed that the transport sector’s poor road safety appeared to be an inaccurate reflection of causality.
“The road freight industry in South Africa has a pretty bad reputation and drivers are often blamed for causing accidents. Although there are fly-by-night companies not complying with road safety regulations, many operators actually do stick to the rules and run proper operations.”
Manson said if last year’s survey findings were considered, that more than 70% of collisions involving trucks weren’t actually caused by trucks but by motorists and pedestrians, then it was the exception and not the norm that road safety on South African roads was jeopardised by road freight operators.
“It was very surprising to note that it often comes down to other road users not understanding the physics of trucks and how transporters operate.”
Manson says much driver behaviour may have to do with the lack of adequately inculcating in people, from a very young age, the importance of road safety and respect for other road users.
“When we went through school, there were actual road safety classes and days at crèche and primary school level where kids were made aware of road signs and proper road usage. We were taught about the need to have consideration for other road users.
“These days, drivers’ licences, for example, are often bought and road safety is not inculcated from a young age any more.”
Manson said road safety initiatives at a very young age should be reintroduced to create a foundation of behavioural knowledge for driver education.
- Participate in Webfleet’s Fleet Road Safety Survey 2023 and stand a chance to win R5000.
