Greetings from a warm and sunny South Africa!
Christmas in the southern hemisphere is associated with summer
holidays, which in South Africa means that from the beginning of
December (when schools close) hundreds of thousands of people head for
the coast and the beaches or to visit their families, particularly from
the densely populated Johannesburg-Pretoria area. Unfortunately, this
also brings serious fatal crashes, particularly when passenger vehicles
are involved. Almost two weeks ago I drove from Pretoria to Durban (650
km) with my two teenage children to visit their Grandma. We left at
05:45 and I heard on the 06:00 news that there had been a serious crash
at 02:00 on the Jhb-Durban highway involving a truck and a mini-bus
taxi. The driver of the taxi had either fallen asleep or lost
concentration for some seconds, resulting in the taxi crossing the
painted median into the two oncoming lanes. The taxi was certified to
carry 23 passengers, but at the time was loaded with 35 passengers. The
result of the head-on collision was 30 fatalities plus serious injuries.
We passed the scene of the crash at around 9:00 and I was overcome with
emotion regarding this tragedy and senseless waste of life.
During the next few days, various thoughts went through my mind
relating to this crash. One was a renewed sense of purpose in terms of
various projects in which I am involved. One such project is the Road
Transport Management System accreditation scheme, which promotes the
adoption of standards by transport operators, consignors & consignees
relating to vehicle loading, maintenance and driver wellness & training.
There are now approximately 1 500 trucks participating in the RTMS
scheme in South Africa, and the Southern Africa Development Community
(SADC) is planning to run a pilot project on the North-South Corridor
involving Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Also, there is the
performance-based standards project, which results in heavy vehicles
that are dynamically more stable when undertaking various manoeuvres. 36
“Smart Truck” demonstration vehicles are currently in operation and this
number should have doubled by the end of 2012.
I also experienced a sense of pride in being involved in the IFRTT, an
organisation that has members and affiliates all over the world who are
actively involved in improving, amongst others, the safety of vehicles,
trucks in particular. To those of you that are involved in such road or
vehicle safety work: keep it up. The need out there, particularly in
developing countries where road fatalities are generally orders of
magnitude greater than in the developed world, is great.
70 abstracts have been received for the HVTT12 conference in Stockholm
in September 2012. These will be allocated to members of the scientific
committee early in the New Year for review, so authors can expect their
reviewed abstracts towards during February.
DIS (Draft International Standard)/ISO 39001: Road Traffic Safety
Management Systems has been approved by the ISO/PC 241 committee and the
comments received will be addressed at the next meeting from 20 to 24
February in Johannesburg.
I wish you and your families and loved ones a Merry Christmas and Happy
New Year and everything of the best for 2012. And please drive safely
and responsibly.
Paul Nordengen
IFRTT President
Research Group Leader: Network Asset Management Systems
CSIR Built Environment
Tel: +27-12-841-3945
Fax: +27-12-842-7112
Cell: +27-83-229-0668
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Internet: http://www.csir.co.za
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