The proposal by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters that commercial vehicles with a gross vehicle mass exceeding 9 000 kg not be allowed to operate on urban roads from 06:00 to 9:00 and from 17:00 to 20:00 from Mondays to Fridays is still under consideration, stated Department of Transport (DoT) director Whity Maphakela.

Maphakela was addressing black-owned training and conferencing company Intelligence Transfer Centre’s second yearly Coal Transportation Africa summit, held in Johannesburg in May.

He confirmed this in response to questions raised from the floor by heavy-haul logistics operators, who stressed this proposal would have “devastating consequences” for their operations, as this would remove up to 40% of the time operators had to transport goods.

Conference chairperson and transport economist Andrew Marsay pointed out that the DoT was under immense pressure to do something meaningful to curb the high yearly death toll on South Africa’s roads.

As a consequence, one of the options the department had suggested was preventing trucks from being on the roads during peak traffic periods.

However, Marsay noted that road-haulage operators had continuously reiterated in consultation forums with the DoT that trucks were not the main cause of accidents on South Africa’s roads.

“Nonetheless, the issue of road deaths in South Africa is a very serious one, as at least 15 000 people die in road accidents in this country each year,” he emphasised.

Marsay added that this was the equivalent to one Marikana-type tragedy occurring each day on South Africa’s roads.

The 2012 Marikana tragedy resulted in the deaths of 44 people, the majority of whom were striking mineworkers.

He explained that, therefore, the DoT wanted to ensure that heavy hauliers and bulk commodity transporters in particular also played their part in reducing the national road casualty count tally.