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www.automobil.co.za
November 2022
driver’s seat
For information on the RMI and its workings, visit www.rmi.org.za or call 011 886 6300
editor’s letter
s we move closer to the holiday season the focus is going to shift
increasingly to safety and preholiday safety checks for drivers. Re-
grettably, South Africa has one of the worst accident rates. Over the
last 2021/2022 festive season (1 December 2021 – 11 January 2022) there
were 1808 fatalities and 1395 fatal crashes.
Rather than wait for the last minute, motor vehicle owners should book
their cars in for those critical safety checks before heading off on holiday. It
is concerning that our roads continue to be plagued with unroadworthy ve-
hicles where many of the safety critical components have long been neglect-
ed. These vehicles are death traps, not only for the passengers in the vehicle
but for other road users too. We have to get serious about regu-
lar maintenance and servicing of vehicle components to make
sure our roads are safer.
According to the RTMC Road Crash Report 2020, 17% of
major crashes (in which more than five people are killed) are
attributed to vehicle factors. In South Africa, vehicle defects
or un-roadworthiness is certainly a contributor to the fatal
road crashes that occur each year and is not only cost-
ing South African lives but billions in rands too.
When major crashes are investigated and the
factors contributing to accidents, the vehicle
types and the road environment taken into
consideration, the major factors of vehicle
defects causing fatal crashes can be at-
tributed to tyres bursting, faulty brakes,
unroadworthy vehicles, faulty headlights
and tyre failure. This is a clear indicator that
maintenance is not happening regularly enough. yet still only 21% of our
vehicles are required to be tested on a regular basis.
The RMI through its Vehicle Testing Association (VTA) has been cam-
paigning for many years now to see the legislation passed for Periodic Vehi-
cle Testing (PTI). Several years after the legislation for more regular vehicle
inspections was promulgated by South Africa’s Minister of Transport, the
implementation is yet to happen. The legislation was published with imple-
mentation “at a date to be determined by the Minister”. To date, there has
been no mention of even a suggested implementation date. Should the leg-
islation be implemented it would enforce those vehicles 10 years and older
be tested every two years. This really begs the question why is South Africa
not passing the legislation? We have seen countless examples from other
countries showing the success of this type of approach.
As the RMI, with our 8 000 businesses across the country, we are strongly
placed to make a positive contribution to road safety. All of our associations
are involved in the upkeep and maintenance throughout the life of the in-
use vehicle, in terms of its sale, maintenance, repair and testing. It is our
strong belief that should a vehicle be maintained in a roadworthy and safe
condition, it will have a positive impact on road safety and decrease the
number of fatalities from road crashes. Furthermore, it will create jobs in
the retail and vehicle testing sectors and save the economy billions.
I encourage our members to engage with their customers and remind
them to carry out these safety checks during November, particularly with
when it comes to the safety critical components of their cars.
As we have done in the past, I also encourage our members to think
about offering this testing free of charge to South Africans. This is our way
of giving back and together I feel confident we can make a real difference in
saving lives this festive season.
Jakkie olivier
RMI Chief Executive Officer
Focus on safety
conomic conditions in South Africa took a turn for the
worse during September, with Eskom data confirming that
the South African economy experienced the worst-ever
month of load shedding, with 572 of the month’s 720 hours di-
rectly affected. Analysis by Eskom’s Research, Testing and Devel-
opment department further showed that, besides 2021, there
was more power cuts in September 2022 than had been expe-
rienced in any other entire year since load shedding started in
2007. The negative impact of load shedding reaches all spheres
of the economy. Companies buckle under the inability to pro-
duce at capacity, the cost of lost production, reduced produc-
tivity, the cost of providing alternatives and reduced margins.
For small businesses, like many of the RMI members, this
has a serious effect on productivity, with electricity needed to
power everything from lifts to tools, compressors, point of sale
equipment and security systems. The knock on effect is that
businesses are having to spend any spare cash that they might
have on future proofing their businesses with investment in
equipment like generators, inverters or solar installations nec-
essary to be able to do business in South Africa.
The on going load shedding has also had an effect on the wa-
ter supply in certain regions, such as Gauteng. While the dams
feeding the Gauteng province are at satisfactory levels, electric-
ity disruptions have affected Rand Waters ability to pump water
to various reservoirs in order to meet increased demand caused
by rising spring temperatures resulting in the implementation of
water restrictions.
This meant that high water users have very quickly had to
look at water saving and water storage solutions in order to
avoid the increased tariffs that are implemented by municipal-
ities during periods of water restrictions.
Unfortunately these factors mean that alternative elec-
tricity and water supply solutions are necessary and will
become increasingly important for businesses, both big and
small, in order to remain competitive and mitigate the dis-
ruptions caused by unpredictable supply of these resources
by government.
reuben van Niekerk
reuben@automobil.org.za
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