Trucks on the roads

[Stretch]

small vent!

 

on my way to a meeting today, i was forced to sit in a traffic jam that was once again the result of a truck broken down - in this instance 4 trucks broken down within 500m of each other on an uphill. I am now finding it is becoming a daily occurrence that we just laugh off as part of routine. The other day a gautrain spokesperson spoke of the theft of cables as economic sabotage - is this not the same. For one it slows everyone day - so all meetings are affected and not to forget the goods on the road also being affected. It also aggrevates people and therefore incites road rage. I am a relatively chilled person and I took me about 15 min to cool down.

 

The big question is what do you do about it? what are the options?

The one option is to introduce an on the spot fine of R50k or R100k given to trucking companies that break down with no apparent reasoning. This would make them wake up and not overload and service their fleet regularly - but that is easily solved with a little bit of backhanding

 

Me, i am an strong advocate for rail. I would personally like to see a road tax being implemented over a number of years (i.e. 5) that would increase every year and then an incentivised rail option as an alternative. A lot of goods do not need to be there the next day and can simply be handled with pre-planning. You would need to offer road tax reductions to goods that need next day delivery and this could easily be stipulated.

 

ok obviously this is reliant on the rail network operating reliably so it would likely require the privitisation of the cargo component.........(ha ha ha)

 

so what are options are there - i am getting fed up!

[Mojoman]

Ja, we have the same problem in Magalies with the scrap metal trucks, they are falling apart, poorly maintained, rubbish is falling off the trucks all the time and then they can't make it up the little hill coming into town from Rustenburg, there is usually one every couple of days broken down, and what amuses me is these things crawl past our local traffic porkers and yet nothing ever gets done! I also think half the problem is the drivers are not skilled enough to keep in the right gear when approaching hills.

[Vetseun]

Its a *** up. The trucks are stuffing up our roads. You cant travel on the hi way cause every second vehicle is a moerse truck with a " I dont travel in the yellow line sticker on it." Where is our rail system???

[Minion]

Anyone who lives in Joburg and listens to the radio will be familiar with "There's a truck broken down at the Van Buren Rd offramp of the N3 South, traffic is backing up to Gillooly's/Benoni/Witbank/the Moon."

[Big H*]

small vent!

 

on my way to a meeting today, i was forced to sit in a traffic jam that was once again the result of a truck broken down - in this instance 4 trucks broken down within 500m of each other on an uphill. I am now finding it is becoming a daily occurrence that we just laugh off as part of routine. The other day a gautrain spokesperson spoke of the theft of cables as economic sabotage - is this not the same. For one it slows everyone day - so all meetings are affected and not to forget the goods on the road also being affected. It also aggrevates people and therefore incites road rage. I am a relatively chilled person and I took me about 15 min to cool down.

 

The big question is what do you do about it? what are the options?

The one option is to introduce an on the spot fine of R50k or R100k given to trucking companies that break down with no apparent reasoning. This would make them wake up and not overload and service their fleet regularly - but that is easily solved with a little bit of backhanding

 

Me, i am an strong advocate for rail. I would personally like to see a road tax being implemented over a number of years (i.e. 5) that would increase every year and then an incentivised rail option as an alternative. A lot of goods do not need to be there the next day and can simply be handled with pre-planning. You would need to offer road tax reductions to goods that need next day delivery and this could easily be stipulated.

 

ok obviously this is reliant on the rail network operating reliably so it would likely require the privitisation of the cargo component.........(ha ha ha)

 

so what are options are there - i am getting fed up!

 

I am all for iinstallin a WIM (Weigh In Motion) device at ALL the new toll gates. Let those who overload pay fines at the same exponential curve as overloading destroys our roads. If the same vehicle keeps on overloading the vehicle must be impounded and sold with the goods it s carrying.

[Big H*]

Its a *** up. The trucks are stuffing up our roads. You cant travel on the hi way cause every second vehicle is a moerse truck with a " I dont travel in the yellow line sticker on it." Where is our rail system???

 

Destroyed by the same politicoans who sits on the board of directors of haulage companies.

[TNT1]

Well, isn't still law that if you breakdown in any car/truck/whatever, you can be fined? I remember reading about that.

[Stretch]

Well, isn't still law that if you breakdown in any car/truck/whatever, you can be fined? I remember reading about that.

thats what i am not sure about - if so it should leave the transporters backsides ringing - and thats why i so 50 or 100k - but as i say that is way to open for birbery.

 

A few years ago there was a really dynamic head of spoornet (think she was voted business women of the year) and things were really looking up - i dont even think she lasted 1 year before she was snaffled up in the private sector

[Gambitdbn]

Rail is a far better idea than road transport for a country with a geographic layout like SA (a few big cities widely spaced apart). Unfortunately I think you'd have the unions to contend with if any measures were made to downsize the trucking industry - one train driver could do the work of 100 truck drivers?

Personally what really gets my back up is a truck overtaking a truck which is in turn overtaking another truck on a three-lane highway. They don't seem to give a toss about other cars on the road.

[Guest Omega Man]

our local traffic porkers

 

OMG. This just made me actually laugh out loud.

[Gambitdbn]

A few years ago there was a really dynamic head of spoornet (think she was voted business women of the year) and things were really looking up - i dont even think she lasted 1 year before she was snaffled up in the private sector

 

Maria Ramos - heading up Absa now as far as I know...

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Rail is a far better idea than road transport for a country with a geographic layout like SA (a few big cities widely spaced apart). Unfortunately I think you'd have the unions to contend with if any measures were made to downsize the trucking industry - one train driver could do the work of 100 truck drivers?

Personally what really gets my back up is a truck overtaking a truck which is in turn overtaking another truck on a three-lane highway. They don't seem to give a toss about other cars on the road.

 

No its got nothing to do with unions etc, its just that the rail system in SA is just not good enough for commercial companies to use with any level of confidence, hence the huge upsurge in road freight and all its consequences.

 

Ask any manufacturer who moves cargo around if they use rail, the answer will be "only if there's no other alternative" even the freight industry who are huge movers of containers move them by road as well. Importers and exporters have deadlines to meet, the iffy attitude of the rail system means its not reliable, so truck hauliers are the only other alternative.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

 

A few years ago there was a really dynamic head of spoornet (think she was voted business women of the year) and things were really looking up - i dont even think she lasted 1 year before she was snaffled up in the private sector

 

Yeah, Maria Ramos, but I am not that certain she was all that great, as a user of the rail system under her management I didn't see any improvement, to be honest she closed more stations than she opened or improved, and made a lot of contentious decisions about what freight is profitable and what not, with the result the railways stopped moving certain cargo, much to the industries mirth only to backtrack a few years later because tonnage had dropped so radically.

 

In my opinion she is more of a quasi politician than a business woman.

[Gambitdbn]

In my opinion she is more of a quasi politician than a business woman.

 

She's married to Trevor Manuel?

[nickc]

Destroyed by the same politicoans who sits on the board of directors of haulage companies.

 

They are responsible for destroying the rail infrastructure - thousands of jobs lost, abject poverty and misery exists in the former railway towns such as De Aar, Billions of rands worth of damage done to road infrastructure which was never designed for the traffic load, countless lives lost in horror truck accidents. The whole corrupt cesspool should be damned. They have no problem as they all use the blue light brigade to clear the roads for their incompetent selves. Some slack jawed, drooling, cross eyed, weak kneed, mentally weak, morally bankrupt, soft bellied left wing liberal will probally take exception to this comment.

Edited August 18, 2011 by nickc

[Vetseun]

And that my friend is 100% correct!

Destroyed by the same politicoans who sits on the board of directors of haulage companies.

Edited August 18, 2011 by THE BLOODY AGENT