South Africa’s Road Transport Management System (RTMS) has delivered on its mandate – with a reduction in overloading, reduced carbon emissions, and fuel savings among the many positive outcomes.
According to Dr Paul Nordengen of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), this self-regulation initiative has made significant progress – particularly in the area of overloading. RTMS is an industry–led, government-supported, voluntary, self-regulation scheme that encourages stakeholders to implement a set of standards that demonstrates compliance with the Road Traffic Regulations and contributes to preserving road infrastructure.
Nordengen told FTW that there had been a significant reduction in overloading in the sugar and timber industries since the introduction of RTMS. In 2007 overloading was around 2.7% and we are now seeing figures of around 0.1%,” he said. According to Nordengen there’s also been a reduction in speeding resulting in fuel savings.
One company, said Nordengen, had gone from an average of 299 speeding events per truck per year to around 19 similar events.
