Over the past few days, a number of authorities have made urgent calls for the implementation of measures to address the recent spate of road crashes, says Road Freight Association (RFA) CEO Gavin Kelly.

“The Deputy President has also called for an Imbizo to discuss these events.”

The list of incidents include a truck illegally overtaking traffic and colliding head-on with a bakkie ferrying school children in Pongola, KwaZulu-Natal. Twenty people were killed.

However, notes Kelly, if all the conditions of the National Road Traffic Act, Act 93 of 1996 (as amended) and proclaimed in 1996, had been implemented, monitored and enforced, “then these scenes would not be playing out on a regular basis”. 

“Add to that the requirements of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), which includes registration with the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI), the reality that drivers are paid by load, and not as per the very clearly defined conditions of employment, and we would not be where we are today.”

Kelly says the RFA was closely involved with the Department of Transport in the late 1980s and early 1990s when it crafted legislation that would “effectively and efficiently” regulate both freight and passenger operators. 

“This included mechanisms and requirements to deal with the very causes of what we have recently seen happening on our roads.

“Unfortunately, through very poor and highly contentious traffic policing and management services, very weak implementation of regulatory requirements by both transport authorities and labour authorities, the ability for any individual to operate a fleet with very little chance of quality control, and the inaction to remove non-compliant fleet operators, we have arrived at the point where we are today.”

Kelly says the RFA has “continuously called” for action to be taken against non-compliant operators since the announcement of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences legislation, as well as during the “violence and destruction” caused by those opposed to the employment of foreigners in the trucking industry.

“Sadly, the authorities have not heeded our call.”

He says those fleet operators who refuse to register with and abide by the NBCRFLI main agreement “must be held accountable and dealt with”.

“As the RFA has noted to various Ministers of Transport on various occasions: non-compliant operators – as in not complying with the requirements of the NRTA and the LRA – must be removed from public roads.”

Kelly says countries with good road-safety reputations share a number of traits, including professional, well-trained and uncompromising road traffic policing services; strict registration requirements for all public fleet operators; compulsory registration requirements with independent trade associations which check standards compliance before registration; and swift and targeted action against those who choose to be non-compliant.

“There is no need for Imbizos and other gatherings. There is, however, a need to remove non-compliant operators from the road.”