Horror crash spurs Gauteng to focus on truck safety

Gauteng has 19 weighbridges but only three are in full-time operation to ensure trucks comply with the law.

Twelve of the weighbridges are under municipal control and are being used for vehicle registration purposes, while another four, under the provincial government, are used only on an ad hoc basis.

The full utilisation of the weighbridges is among immediate interventions Gauteng roads and transport MEC Ismail Vadi said could strengthen law enforcement and ensure that trucks on the province's roads were not overloaded.

This comes after Tuesday's multi-vehicle truck crash on the N12 highway in Alberton, east of Johannesburg, which left four people dead and 18 injured.

An 18-wheeler truck ploughed through almost 50 cars in morning traffic, causing the highway to be closed in what Vadi has described as Gauteng's worst road crash ever.

"As a department we want to make sure we can get all of those [weighbridges] up and running to manage overload controls on some of these large vehicles," he said.

Two of the weighbridges were operated by the South African National Roads Agency and were used on a full-time basis.

Gauteng's 25-year integrated transport master plan, endorsed by the provincial executive committee earlier this year, indicated that most of the municipal weighbridges "could be used for law enforcement purposes" but were "mostly used for tare weighing for vehicle registration".

Vadi also called on the provincial traffic law-enforcement agencies to shift their focus from taxis to trucks.

He said the entire traffic policing system in the province, including the three metro police departments, "might not have been paying sufficient attention to the truck industry, as our focus has been on the taxis and buses".

"We now need to pay particular attention to the trucks, so that we test their roadworthiness and do inspections on them on the road," he said.

On Thursday, at the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court, it emerged that truck driver Isaac Maruding had two previous convictions, one for culpable homicide and one for reckless and negligent driving.

Maruding, 44, who was arrested in Potchefstroom a day after the truck crash, was not asked to plead.

He is facing charges of culpable homicide and reckless and negligent driving.

Cosatu echoed Vadi's view on private freight companies having to take much of the responsibility when vehicles were found to be unroadworthy.

"Many drivers who are employed are simply given a truck to drive and told to arriveat a certain time, and that encourages speeding and taking short cuts," said Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven.