Prevalent non-compliance issues include overloading, speeding and insufficient vehicle maintenance, which all lead to severe tyre damage, which in turn is responsible for a large proportion of accidents.
Taxi and bus associations and companies that operate heavy duty vehicles have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure that their fleets adhere to safety regulations. "This is especially true for tyres. Taxis, buses and trucks have to support their own weight and the weight of the loads or passengers they are carrying," says Nobuzwe Mangcu, managing executive of the South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference (SATMC).
"We believe it is our responsibility to inform and educate all road users, including commuters, about the hazards of practising insufficient tyre and vehicle maintenance," says Mangcu. "Taxi and bus owners, or drivers, must allow for regular tyre and suspension checks."
Yet the responsibility should not stop there; passengers should also keep the vehicle owners and drivers accountable or risk being involved in an accident, and face financial losses through unexpected medical expenses. Apart from causing accidents, ineffective management and maintenance of fleet tyres can affect the performance of a company's fleet and give rise to unnecessary and costly operational expenditure.
"There is a total of 70,000 minibus taxi crashes annually, which indicates that taxis in our country account for double the rate of crashes than all other passenger vehicles," Mangcu explains. "Members of the public who often experience the negative impact of non-complying passenger vehicles are rarely aware of where the fault lies. They merely recognise the brand or transport association that the vehicle belongs to and blame them."
Mangcu gives the following tips to assist fleet owners on maintaining their tyres:
"Road safety is the responsibility of each individual, organisation and brand on our roads; safety standards and compliance to these standards could prevent the devastating effects of vehicle malfunctions and accidents," Mangcu concludes.
