Road accidents and policing in the freight sector cost the Western Cape economy close to R3 billion per year. According to Corinne Gallant, deputy director of freight in the provincial department of transport and public works, this cost impacted industry, government and the public and was considered too high. “Crashes alone cost the economy around R2.2 billion every year. With more than 90% of freight in the province moving on road it is the lifeblood of this economy, making it imperative that we address challenges such as road freight safety.” She said crashes involving heavy vehicles had become a concern. Since 2016, a total of 68 people had been killed, 267 seriously injured and another 1158 injured in freight-related accidents in the province. “Several factors such as driver fatigue, speeding and vehicle condition contribute to these accidents.” According to Paul Nordegren of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa has one of the highest rates of fatal truck crashes per 100 million kilometres travelled in the world. “Speeding is one of the biggest challenges for operators to control,” he said. Another major contributor was roadworthiness. “The roadworthiness of vehicles in this country is a crisis. Recently on the N3 we stopped the first ten trucks that passed us by and eight of them failed a roadworthiness test.” Whilst this was not a scientific study per se, Nordegren said proper studies had revealed similar results. “The results are scary,” he said. “Of the 757 trucks that have been stopped countrywide as part of a roadworthiness test, 522 of the vehicles had to be scrapped. This means 69% of the vehicles tested were not roadworthy.” According to Gallant, the Western Cape was in the process of implementing its Freight Strategy that was launched in February this year as part of its plan to address some of the challenges in the freight sector, such as safety. “One of the objectives of this strategy is to reduce the number of freightrelated, heavy vehicle crashes,” she said. “The province has undertaken to develop and support freight-related safety campaigns and are working with the private sector to improve driver skills. Driver wellness initiatives are imperative and need to be developed and supported across the province.” She said the freight strategy’s overarching goal was sustainable freight transport delivery in the Western Cape. Having started with full-scale implementation this year, it is expected that efforts will be ramped up in 2020. – Liesl Venter
INSERT: Crashes alone cost the economy around R2.2 billion every year. – Corinne Gallant