www.automobil.co.za
August 2023
EDItOR’s LEttER
DRIVER’s sEAt
For information on the RMI and its workings, visit www.rmi.org.za or call 011 886 6300
he RMI is proud to have signed up as a new corporate partner of the
Road Safety Partnership South Africa in an effort to reduce road traf-
fic crashes and pedestrian-related fatalities in all of South Africa’s
communities.
For those of you who are not familiar with this non-profit organisation, it
is part of a global organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland. The Road Safety
Partnership South Africa (RSP SA) was registered as a Section 21 company in
2007. Its function is to broker partnerships between government, business
and civil society organisations that are dedicated to reducing death and
injury on the roads in South Africa.
Coupled with our strong drive for periodic testing, we believe
that this partnership will be another meaningful platform to
lobby for a safer South Africa. The collaboration with other
like-minded organisations that are committed to addressing
the road safety challenges affecting South Africa will allow us
to combine our resources and knowledge to implement
sustainable interventions to reduce the number of deaths
on our roads. The organisation is chaired by Eugene
Herbert and members of RSP SA include government
agencies, road safety experts, engineering
companies, NGOs and corporates.
The RMI fully supports the belief of RSP SA
that the challenges of road safety in South Africa
must be addressed through holistic interventions.
These interventions include education programmes, engineering and law
enforcement, which will reduce the number of road traffic crashes and
pedestrian fatalities in some of South Africa’s hazardous road traffic crash
locations.
The objectives include brokering partnerships between business, civil
society and government agencies that are dedicated to the sustainable
reduction of death and injury on South Africa’s roads, supporting
programmes that provide road safety education to learners and communities
that are in the proximity of hazardous road hotspots, bringing together
road management specialists, engineering agencies and government to
improve and reconstruct hazardous road traffic crash hotspots, supporting
law enforcement by aligning our members’ programmes with these
enforcement initiatives and developing a model of good practice through
monitoring and evaluation, which can be used by other countries with
similar road conditions and safety challenges.
These objectives align with the United Nations Decade of Action for
Road Safety’s five pillars namely Road Safety Management, Safer Roads and
Mobility, Safer Vehicles, Safer Road Users and Post-crash Response.
We believe that by partnering with the RSP SA we will have a greater
impact in our efforts and will be able to join other members speaking out on
broader issues of road safety in order to give this critical issue the necessary
prominence it deserves.
Jakkie Olivier , RMI Chief Executive Officer
RMI becomes a member of the
Road Safety Partnership SA
hile the South African economic outlook remains
dismal, evidence or resilience is amazingly being
seen in the transport and related industries. Pro-
duction figures in the mining and manufacturing sectors for
example have been surprising despite heavy load-shedding
during the first part of 2023, suggesting that these industries
are becoming progressively more resilient to the effects of
load-shedding, as companies reduce their energy dependence
on an embattled Eskom. I think we may have reached a turning
point as companies, industry and private individuals have real-
ised that they need to be self-sustaining. These investments in
personal infrastructure will take the load off the badly main-
tained infrastructure and with many having made those invest-
ments the effects of load shedding could start to have less of
an effect on the economy.
A consistent stream of new and updated models, particu-
larly in significant high-volume segments, along with improved
availability of popular models, are proving to be crucial fac-
tors in sustaining the growth trajectory of new vehicle sales
in South Africa.
The total market reached 46 810 units in June, which is 14%
better than the same month last year. Witnessing continued
growth in the current challenging economic environment is
encouraging, given that vehicle buyers are facing affordability
pressures, a depreciating rand that drives prices higher, low
business confidence and political instability. This performance is
a good overall barometer of the automotive industry and bodes
well for business continuity in the automotive aftermarket.
Reuben van Niekerk, reuben@automobil.org.za
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