Roadworthiness takes a back seat
17 August 2010 | People and Companies | News | Heavy Commercial Vehicle Underwriting Managers (Pty) Limited (HCV)
Historically government Acts required goods vehicles to carry a permit that was only bestowed on qualifying vehicles that complied with roadworthy legislation. But many problems arose, including fake permit trading, bribery and protest to the increasing cost of the permits. The permit system was withdrawn, resulting in the deregulation of good vehicles.
This system was replaced by the Road Transport Quality System (RTQS), which was aimed at raising the quality of the service provided by the Road Transport Industry.
RTQS was a commendable system that required the owner of certain classes of motor vehicles (mainly commercial) to be registered as the operator when licensing the vehicle. The RTQS clearly detailed the duties of an operator, including exercising control over drivers, monitoring PrDPs, and complying with loading restrictions, vehicle fitness requirements and public safety commitments. This system enabled authorities to suspend or cancel the operator’s registration, serve discontinuation notices of unroadworthy vehicles and order a driver to be retested to check driving competence where necessary.
Despite this promising legislation, the effects of RTQS do not seem apparent. Unroadworthy and overloaded vehicles are still a significant problem on South African roads and drivers continue to get away with drunk driving and speeding. In 2009, 54,000 trucks travelling on South African roads were found to be unroadworthy.
It is true that the authorities have failed to enforce RTQS, but the blame lies mainly with fleet operators. It is the responsibility of the operator to ensure the safety of drivers and other road users. Yes, testing stations have been found to unlawfully issue Certificates of Roadworthiness but the accountability remains with the operators.
In a recent Fleetwatch police training initiative, Heavy Commercial Vehicle Underwriters (HCV) were shocked when two vehicles belonging to an HCV policyholder were served with discontinuance notices. The vehicles were deemed unroadworthy due to simple maintenance neglect that rended the vehicles totally unroadworthy. “We were shocked when we were contacted by the vehicles’ owner who proceeded to insist that the experts who examined the vehicles were incorrect in their Assessment. I urge this fleet operator and others to consider what may have occurred had these unroadworthy vehicles not been removed from the roads”, emphasises Chris Barry, MD of HCV.
By hosting similar training initiatives, companies like HCV hope to educate and empower police to recognise unroadworthy vehicles and support the success of RTQS. “Through legal inconveniences we hope to force operators to recognise the importance of roadworthiness in sustaining their business practices and saving lives on the road”, concludes Barry.
