Business
Plans to move trucks from roads to rails under way─── TSHEHLA KOTELI 14:38 Tue, 20 Sep 2022
The South African Minister of Transport has announced that he's thinking of moving trucks from roads to rails.
Minister Fikile Mbalula made the announcement on his official social media page and added that he will give a detailed implementation plan in due time. Mbalula’s intention to move trucks from the roads to the rails comes on the heels of the land transport survey showing that the volume of goods transported has increased by 26.4% in July 2022 compared with July 2021. The corresponding income has also increased by 32.9% over the same period. The survey further shows that income from freight transportation increased by 22.8% and the main positive contributors to this increase were:
•Primary mining and quarrying products (18,4% and contributing 6,3 percentage points);
•‘Other’ freight (31,7% and contributing 5,9 percentage points);
•Manufactured food, beverages and tobacco products (25,6% and contributing 3,0 percentage points); and
•Agriculture and forestry primary products (27,7% and contributing 2,3 percentage points).
Mbalula’s intention comes after a number of truck accidents in the country. Deputy President, David Mabuza, has noted with concern the accidents that have occurred on the country’s roads involving trucks.
Cant agree more https://t.co/TaIjCxXaLL
— FIKILE MBALULA | MR FIX (@MbalulaFikile) September 20, 2022
The first accident to capture attention involving a truck happened on Saturday 17 September 2022 in uPhongolo, KwaZulu-Natal, and claimed 20 lives. Mabuza in a media statement says that there was another truck accident on Monday 19 September 2022 on the R66/34 near Ulundi, again in the KwaZulu-Natal, however, no lives were lost.
Mbalula also agreed with a social media post that stated accidents will continue until trucks hauling materials are moved to the railways.
ALSO READ: Curfews ‘could help reduce truck accidents’
East Coast Radio previously reported that the truck driver's forum, All Truck Driver Forum and Allied SA, is of a view that curfews could help reduce the number of accidents involving heavy-duty vehicles. Sifiso Nyathi, who is part of the Forum, said truckers are having to deal with a number of challenges, including driver fatigue and unroadworthy vehicles. He added some drivers are forced to commit to 12-hour driving shifts. In a space of a week, there were six vehicles - four of them being trucks - involved in a fiery crash in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
