State of trucking on the N3 getting worse

The state of trucking on the N3 – the country’s major road transport route linking the national industrial hub of Gauteng with the port city of Durban – is getting worse, according to Con Roux, commercial manager of N3 Toll Concessions (N3TC), that manages the toll section of this main highway. “It’s a jungle out there,” he added, quoting one of his incident managers on the toll route. He was speaking at “Call to Action”, a meeting held at the annual KwaZulu Natal truck show at Shongweni near Durban of some 350 senior executives from the country’s trucking industry. At what turned out to be a strange combination of a vibrant and shocking day, speakers covered subjects which exposed the serious lack of road safety in the country, and tried to come to some solution to this frightening problem. “It’s a battle-front out there,” said Patrick O’Leary, managing editor of FleetWatch magazine, the sponsors, organisers and presenters of the event. “It’s everybody’s problem,” he added, “with 15 000 deaths a year, or 43 a day, on the South African roads.” And heavy commercial vehicles are big players in this road carnage, according to other speakers – who highlighted the failings of the industry with some quite shocking observations, with a particular stress on the misbehaviour of what they termed “the rats and mice” of the industry. A number of the major problems were described. Poor, infrequent (if at all) maintenance of trucks and trailers was one. Added to that was what Dave Scott, an independent trailer expert, said was “buying pup parts for dog trailers”, a money-saving exercise by incompetent truck or fleet owners. “Brakes – what brakes?” said Keir Guild, technical director of Wabco. He pointed out frequent instances of mismatching brake boosters, worn-out or loose brake pads, and the horrifying instances of brake tests showing zero pressure of the brakes – in other words, no brakes. Just as bad with tyres, said Terence Bowren, of the training department of Bridgestone, the tyre distributors. He again talked about serious cases of mismatching, in sizes, tread patterns and mixing of radial and cross-ply tyres; serious and unattended tread and sidewall damage; nonalignment of tyres; and wrong tyre pressures, “It’s the air which carries the load”, he said. “What’s the difference between poor roads and good roads?” asked Paul Nordengen, amongst other titles, a member of the SA Road Federation. And a simple answer to his question is cost. Simply put, good roads cost truckers R0.96/kilometre; fair roads R1.24/km; and poor roads R2.11/km. “You pay for good roads, whether you have them or not,” he added. After lunch, Willis Mchunu, KZN MEC for transport, community safety and liaison, paid a visit to the Call to Action meeting. He brought with him a horrifying 10-minute video of horrific road accidents filmed by roadside cameras. “Tragic,” he said, “but the truth. “The issue of road safety is one of the most important in this country. The vast majority are a crime. Fools who drinkand- drive, people driving at lunatic speeds, and those who just ignore all the road signs.” He welcomed the meeting saying that every industry body which addressed the issue was a step towards promoting more road safety. Con Roux then produced some equally shocking statistics from the toll stretch of the N3. There are 4 600 trucks, most of them big units, each day on the route. They compose 32% of the vehicle mix, but are involved in 43% of the accidents – comprising 96 fatal crashes in 2010, with 147 fatalities. Speeding was noted for 88% of the vehicles southbound, and 77% northbound. Fatigue, much of it caused by anything up to a full day’s wait at the Durban container terminal, is a major issue; and 800 tyres a month are shed on the toll route. “It’s time for us to take control,” Roux added.