Transportation

Zinhle Sokhela:  PCB Director

Something has to be done about the regular disruptions to the movement of traffic.   Every day, the traffic report on the radio details accidents and other obstacles to the flow of traffic.   Often, particularly in Johannesburg but also in Durban and Cape Town, the congestion is caused by traffic lights that are not working.    This is a maintenance problem, surely, and needs to be addressed.    City traffic depends on a regulated and continuous flow and is not easily adaptable to disruption.   But by far the most worrying disruptions are those that occur on major highways.    Inevitably, it seems, it is a truck that has had an accident and is blocking the route.    As I write, a tanker overturned on one of the busiest Johannesburg highways spilling its load of petrol on the road.    How it is possible that a modern tanker vehicle, properly maintained and restricted in its speed should overturn on a highway, remains to be seen.    There was another report this morning that several public bus drivers had been arrested in Cape Town for driving under the influence of alcohol.      Perhaps this is a reason for some of the truck accidents that occur.

For the average motorist, being held up in a traffic jam is an inconvenience.   But there is much more to it.   Just as the Transnet strike which has delayed the delivery of product will, no doubt, result in the cancellation of international orders (the global market is not tolerant of either delays or unreliability), long delays on highways and in cities have repercussions which affect the good order of the economy.    People are prevented from attending meetings, air flights are missed, and, since we rely so much on road freight, orders are late.    Slickness and punctuality are important features of successful business and these are severely undermined by traffic jams. 

Then there is the huge cost of clearing the road.   It seems to be taken for granted that traffic authorities will appear with the resources to remove the obstruction.  But who pays, I wonder?    I am aware that if experts are called on to remove toxic substances, the company whose truck has had the spillage is billed, but I’m not sure that it is standard practice for the responsible company, or driver, to bear the other costs.    

It is not the fault of haulage companies or their clients that we have such reliance on road freight transport.    That the use of heavy vehicles in such number undermines the quality of roads and their lifespan is generally acknowledged, yet moves towards an alternative are very slow.   I have heard it argued that is cheaper to transport goods by road than by rail, but this is related to deficiencies, surely.   No one will convince me that rail transportation is more expensive than road.  Once constructed, a railway line, which I’m sure is less expensive than a road anyway, requires far less attention than a road.   Moreover, it can carry far more all at once than is possible in a truck which is confined to one or two containers.     Rail transportation is also more reliable, for there are few disruptions to a rail journey from one point to another.     Why is it, one may ask, that rail transportation is not used as much as it could or should be?  The answer lies, apparently, in the lack of the necessary services at the termini, both at departure and arrival.   Logistical processes have not been implemented to allow for seamless transportation.   Thus, companies have to pay to transfer freight from road to rail and then, at the other end, from rail to road so as to reach the final destination.  This is where the extra costs come in, apparently.    I suspect there are other factors.   Road freight offers employment, freight hauliers have huge investments in their fleets and in recent times, particularly, railways have had a poor reputation.    But for the reasons set out above, this national practice must be re-evaluated.  We must make more use of rail and save our roads and out road-users. 

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