‘Transport research expertise must be addressed in SA’

South Africa has not invested enough in transport research and must re-establish capacity to do so urgently. This is according to Kobus Labuschagne, CSIR research group leader: intelligent systems and traffic management. Addressing a transport forum in Johannesburg recently, Labuschagne said the importance of research in any field could not be denied, but more so in the transport industry. “We need to see more in-house training taking place with industry playing an increasingly important role by facilitating more internships to allow young people entering the profession a place where they can build expertise.” He said out of the pool of engineers graduating every year only a small number went into research with an even smaller percentage showing any interest in the field of traffic/transport. “The pull is much bigger into project management and other corporate areas with great incentive packages. If we don’t address the shortage of expertise in the field of transport research, we will have a crisis on our hands.” He said it took at least ten years of working in the field of traffic and transport for an engineer to gain enough experience to specialise in the field. He is one of only a handful of traffic engineers currently employed by the CSIR. He said with transport systems reliant on research it was not an issue that could be shoved under the carpet for much longer. “We have not done proper research on transport in this country and we need to re-establish the capability to do so sooner rather than later.”