As of December 1, all new minibus, midibus, bus and goods vehicles exceeding 3 500kg will have to be fitted with a speed governor, restricting travel to speed limits set out in the National Road Traffic Regulations 2000.
This is legislated by an amendment to the regulations, first issued on October 31, 2014 and pertains to regulation 215. It affects all vehicles registered after December 1 this year; vehicles already registered will not have to be fitted with speed governors retrospectively. It also does not apply to vehicles with fewer than 10 seats.
Although the amendment was gazetted over 18 months ago, awareness of the requirement in the travel industry is low. Some tour operators Tourism Update approached for comment felt unable to do so, having not received any relevant information. Tourism Update also asked the Department of Tourism what steps had been taken to inform the travel industry, but had not received a response by publication time.
Dimitri Kokinos, MD of Spurwing Tourism Services, believes the attempt at improving road safety is a good thing. “It will stop people speeding in vehicles that are big and heavy – speed is something they were never built for,” he said. However, he feels there is a danger involved. “The risk I see is that if there is a dangerous position and a quick acceleration is needed – faster than the speed limit – the driver won't be able to do anything about it, possibly putting his guests at risk when he could have avoided it.”
With the amendment exempting passenger vehicles with under 10 seats, the traditional car-rental industry does not expect much impact, according to President of Southern African Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (Savrala), Marc Corcoran.
He pointed out that Savrala members considering new commercial fleets such as vans and trucks, and larger passenger vehicles over 10 seats, may need to consider how to explain the new legislation to customers, so that renters did not think there were mechanical problems with vehicles when they did not exceed speed limits.
“While Savrala is very supportive of actions to reduce the level of national carnage and loss of life on our roads, we are not aware of the statistical evidence to suggest how many lives are expected to be saved due to this legislation, or the extent of any possible unintended consequences which may reverse these intended gains. Indeed, the timeous availability of reliable and granular national accident statistics remains a key opportunity that needs greater focus,” he said.
“Instead of having to respond to Government Gazettes, Savrala looks forward to engaging directly, as one of many stakeholders, with the National Department of Transport on any proposed road safety initiative, so we can better understand how our members can contribute towards safer roads and saving lives,” he continued.
