SABOA collaborates to promote safety and recognise bus drivers

This year, some key initiatives will bring the bus and coach industry’s critical role and contribution to the forefront. BAZIL GOVENDER highlights the fact that these projects will recognise bus drivers and promote safety.

SABOA has actively collaborated with partners Commercial Transport Academy (CTA), MasterDrive, and Clarendon Transport Underwriters (CTU) to endorse and support three key initiatives for the industry. As the voice of the bus and coach industry, SABOA is excited about the launch and sustainability of these projects. We are now calling on the industry and stakeholders to lend their support and grow the projects.

Female Bus Drivers

A partnership between CTU, SABOA, CTA, and USAID has made it possible to increase the number of female participants in South Africa’s key bus operator industry.

CTA has developed its own unique model, with careful consideration for the upskilling of women within the transport industry. The commercial driver programme is designed to provide holistic development, enabling participants to obtain their learner’s and driving licences. Thereafter, they take part in 15 soft skills training courses, before completing the theoretical elements and practical training to accumulate driving hours and work experience.

After a rigorous selection process, 28 ladies from Gauteng (Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, and Tshwane) were chosen for the programme. The ladies have already completed a short skills programme, encompassing Code 14 licences, three Transport Education Training Authority (TETA)-aligned unit standards, the aforementioned set of 15 soft skills, and training in advanced, defensive, and economical driving.

SABOA fully endorses this project, which has resulted in the 28 participants being ready for integration into and employment by the bus and coach industry. We are currently facilitating engagements with operators in Gauteng to fast-track the onboarding and employment of these female drivers.

Fleet Safety Awards 2023

In light of the success of the Fleet Safety Awards 2022, we are joining forces with MasterDrive to host the SABOA Fleet Safety Awards 2023. These awards are dedicated solely to efforts to promote road safety within the bus industry.

The CEO of MasterDrive, Eugene Herbert, says the Fleet Safety Awards 2022 were so successful that the event sparked thoughts of how it could be expanded into many other industries to show appreciation for the ultimate examples of road safety.

“The bus industry is just one of the industries motivated by this. Bus operators are responsible for the lives of more people at a given time than any other vehicle on the road. Consequently, it is of the utmost importance to prioritise road safety among bus operators and reward those committed to it,” Herbert explains.

“MasterDrive is proud to be a part of this initiative and further the road safety agenda even more. It is heartening to see that our belief in an event that would honour road safety is shared and appreciated on such a wide scale,” he adds. “We look forward to working with SABOA and the bus operators in rewarding and recognising those who are as committed to road safety as we are.”

SABOA and MasterDrive will collaborate to finalise the logistics and format involved in integrating the bus sector into the 2023 Fleet Safety Awards. It is envisaged that the event will feature at the SABOA 2023 Conference, Exhibition, and Gala Dinner, to be held from 5 to 7 September at the Johannesburg Expo Centre, Nasrec.

Highway Heroes

The Hollard Highway Heroes 2023 event was launched at a media announcement on 23 February. SABOA has endorsed the introduction of the bus and coach industry into this year’s awards.

This year’s competition, supported by sponsors CTU and Ctrack, is open to drivers from all truck and bus fleets in South Africa. There will be two categories for bus drivers: long distance and short distance.

Entries opened on 1 March and they will remain open until 31 May, after which the competition kicks off. Using telematics, competitors will be tracked for speeding, excessive driving, and total distance travelled. After the end of the first monitoring phase on 31 July, 20 deserving bus drivers will progress to the second assessment phase, which will run from 1 September to 15 October.

A telematics device will be fitted in the vehicle cabs of all Hollard Highway Heroes competitors. The devices monitor driving behaviour, capturing data on speed events, time taken to rest, and total distance travelled (more kilometres travelled with fewer events are deemed as good driving). Data is relayed to the Hollard Highway Heroes nerve centre, where computers record and analyse the information. In this way, there is empirical evidence of safe driving and a means by which to objectively identify the safest bus and truck drivers in South Africa.

The winners will be crowned at a gala event at Emperors Palace, Ekurhuleni, on 17 November 2023, with the winning bus driver receiving R100 000.

The Highway Heroes competition was established to help improve road safety in South Africa. Our data shows that by promoting safer driving practices, the competition has led to a big improvement in participating drivers’ road behaviour – not only during the competition, but also in the long-term.

SABOA supports and endorses all of these projects and initiatives because they are building and sustaining road safety, recognising the most important people involved in the process, namely bus drivers and operators. At the same time, they ensure that the agenda for transformation and gender inclusion is also delivered.

For more information on these projects, please contact:

CTA: Kas Govender – kas@c-t-a.co.za

MasterDrive: Nishani Chetty – nishani@masterdrive.co.za

CTU: Nadira Mohideen – nadiram@ctu.co.za

SABOA: saboa@saboa.co.za