The Road Freight Association (RFA) has called for urgent action in the freight and logistics industry following the recent spate of truck accidents.
This after a truck accident in Pongola, northern KwaZulu-Natal claimed 20 lives including 18 school children last week.
In a statement on Friday, RFA CEO Gavin Kelly said the rate of truck accidents stems from highly contentious traffic policing and management services.
“The 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 or actions to remove non-compliant fleet operators [made it possible for us to] arrive at the point on our roads where we are today,” said Kelly.
He said the RAF previously raised these issues with the administrative adjudication of road traffic offences but its calls fell on deaf ears.
“One of the reasons why some road freight operators are not members of the RFA is because they do not wish to comply with the core code of the RFA. The transport minister must use independent-registered freight associations to assist in this matter.”
On Thursday, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula visited the accident scene in Pongola and said the driver of the truck overtook multiple vehicles in a dangerous and unlawful manner.
“The driver overtook vehicles and drove on the oncoming lane for approximately 1.2 kilometres,” said Mbalula.
The truck driver is in police custody on charges of culpable homicide and is due back in court next week.
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