Truckers get out the danger zone

With the South African economy growing and without a strong rail transport system, an incredible amount of pressure has been placed on the road transport network. Currently road transport is the fastest, most flexible, economical and efficient means of transportation and the numbers of passenger and commercial vehicles is expected to continue to rise in the next few years. With this in mind, it is important to realise that there will be more trucks travelling on South African roads, which will most likely result in a greater number of truck accidents. Trucking accidents, aside from being traumatic, can result in costly litigation, driver downtime and increased insurance premiums – all of which have an impact on the South African consumer in terms of across the board increased costs. This is without even mentioning the consequential injuries and loss of lives that could result from these collisions.

One of South Africa’s leading insurance underwriting managers – Heavy Commercial Vehicle Underwriting Managers (Pty) Limited (HCV) – is accepting the responsibility to take measures to prevent truck accidents in South Africa.

There are many known hazardous truck accident hot spots in the country that can be seen at www.arrivealive.co.za/document/hazardousroutes. Also HCV suggests that accidents can be reduced by, firstly making drivers aware of these high risk areas, and secondly, to reinforce truckers to follow these basic precautions at all times,
· Don’t drink (or drug) and drive

· Stay hydrated – drink lots of water
· Make frequent stops to eat healthily and stretch to get blood flowing
· Buckle up at all times
· Limit speed to 80km/h
· In wet weather, reduce speed, turn on headlights and increase following distance
· Have your tyres checked and truck serviced regularly.

In addition HCV also offers in-cab driver training to all the drivers of its policyholders – “HCV’s free in-cab driver training is aimed at equipping drivers to react appropriately to hazardous situations. It’s our way of giving back to the South African community, helping to make our roads safer for all road users,” explains Chris Barry, Managing Director of HCV.

Proficient drivers means increased safety for all road users, reduced insurance claims and enhanced road transport networks to the benefit of the South African economy. “Brokers should recommend corrective driver training to their clients, not just those who make frequent claims, but also new and existing clients,” concludes Barry.

Importantly, HCV is committed to consistently improving the driver training programme, and has a full-time driver trainer working for them. The best part, it’s free. HCV would encourage more policyholders to make use of this service by enquiry through their current insurance brokers.