RISK MANAGEMENT AND THE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES OF NOT FITTING AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGY TO THE WHEELS OF MOTOR VEHICLES TO PREVENT THE CONSEQUENCES OF TYRE BURST
Executive Summary
- The development of technology has made it possible to state that: “The consequences of a tyre burst have become preventable”.
- The difficulty and expense of taking the required precautionary measures cannot be said to be prohibitive given the seriousness of potential harm and the risk to human life.
- It is the duty of an employer to devise a system and supply precautionary implements where his workers and the public are at risk.
- It is the duty of operators of road transport operations and those who use or ply vehicles on public roads to take every reasonable precaution against harm and to conduct their operations with due care to the safety of the public.
- It is now part and parcel of transport policy that blow-out-stabiliser devices or anti-tyre-burst devices should form an integral part of risk management (i.e. Operator Code of Practice/Fleet Management Safety System/Priority Programmes for achieving Safety Objectives/Tyre Safety Management Systems) and are reasonably available for the purpose of exercising the required care.
- The failure to fit these devices could in appropriate circumstances amount to a dereliction of the duty to prevent the consequences of a tyre burst. Such failure could be labelled as negligence and could invoke the concomitant criminal and civil sanctions provided for in our legal system.
July 2002
I B MOSS
ATTORNEY (011) 888-2095
FAX: (011) 7828037
Case No 149/2000 Supreme Court of Appeal
Zeda Car Rental (Pty) Limited
And Beverley Anne Fourie (for Rj De Waal) Judge JA Scott
Government Policy
In his budget review speech for the year 2000 – 2001, before the National Council of Provinces, the Minister of Transport, Dr AM Omar, referred to a resuscitated and revitalised Road Traffic Safety Board designed to translate road safety strategy into delivery. In this speech he also referred to Strategy 2000, a document dealing with a comprehensive road safety strategy for South Africa which includes priority programmes for achieving safety objectives in the broader public interest. Some of the short-term measures included:
- Consider the feasibility of banning re-treaded tyres from the steering axles of all heavy trucks and public passenger vehicles and phasing in of compulsory blow-out-stabiliser devices.
In the NDOT Policy Document the “Road to Safety Plan 2001 – 2005” the following extracts are relevant:
“We want safer vehicles. We will therefore implement the following actions”:
- In consultation with the heavy freight and public passenger transport sector, introduce a standard Operator Code of Practice/Fleet Safety Management system which lays down stringent criteria for vehicle maintenance and safety management systems, with appropriately- scaled sanctions for transgressions, up to and including vehicle impoundment/forfeiture for repeated or gross overloading offences and suspension or loss of operator’s card for general failure to comply with safety standards;
- Build operator consensus around the phased implementation of key vehicle safety technologies like top speed limiters and tyre safety management systems.
In a key-note address at the National Driver of The Year Awards function, on 27 October 2000, the Minister of Transport once again makes the following statements:
- “We also have some special measures in the pipeline for fleet operators and the professional driving sector:…
We want, as a matter of urgency, to work with all the relevant stakeholders to hammer out a Code of Practice for driver and fleet safety management. We see this as being, in the initial phase, a self-regulatory instrument developed on the basis of full consultation and a shared commitment to safety. But once it has settled down, we will be looking to make adherence to its terms a condition of operator registration…
We see the Code of Practice as covering key issues such as vehicle fitness,… In both the passenger and freight sectors it will set common standards for pre-trip safety inspections. It will require operators to keep full record of driver hours, vehicle servicing and maintenance and the calibration of on-board safety equipment such as top-speed limiters, black boxes and anti-tyre-burst devices.
