The halfway mark for 2021 is now behind us and winter is slowly making way for spring. The days are slowly getting longer, snowy caps are melting and filling the riverbeds to bursting, spring flowers are breaking free, and the summer rains will soon hit the coast. 

If long game drives, or that idyllic social-distanced trip to the coast still remain unchecked on your adventure list, now is the time to take the road and enjoy the last of the season’s greats without worrying about coming into close contact with too many people. Or how your tyres will cope with the terrain ahead.

As you take to the highway, the dirt track, or the off-road climbs, there is nothing quite like the peace of mind that comes from complete trust in the capabilities of your vehicle and your tyres, knowing you are covered by Dunlop Sure. 

“We are the first tyre manufacturer in South Africa to offer such comprehensive tyre cover, proof of our confidence in our outstanding Grandtrek tyre range,” says Lubin Ozoux, CEO of Sumitomo Rubber South Africa, manufacturer of the iconic Dunlop tyre range. “Dunlop Sure gives SUV and 4x4 owners complete peace of mind to just get out there and explore.” 

With a dedicated Insurance Call Centre Dunlop Sure provides the following cover: 

Product Life Warranty – 8 years: Manufacturer’s warranty against defects in material and/or workmanship for a duration of 8 years from the manufacture date. Ride discomfort claims will be accepted for adjustment during the first 10% of the original tread depth, with these tyres replaced free of charge.

Mileage Warranty – up to 100 000km: Tyre Warranty is transferable for the life of the tyre and tyres carry a manufacturer’s warranty in the case of premature treadwear, guaranteeing a certain number of kilometres of tyre use before they wear out. The mileage warranty on Grandtrek AT3G is 60 000km; for Grandtrek AT25 – 70 000km and on Grandtrek AT5 – 100 000km. To qualify customers must purchase 4 tyres from a registered tyre dealer, have their wheel alignment done and register the warranty online within 7 days of purchase, either on the Dunlop MyTyres app within 7 days of purchase or by asking the Tyre Fitment centre where they made their purchase and had the wheel alignment done to do so for them. Tyres need to be rotated and aligned at least every 8000km and recorded on the MyTyres mobile app.

12 month All Road Hazard Guarantee: Free for 12 months on Dunlop Tyres 16-inch and above, all SUV and all Light Truck Radials (except 195/14C), the tyre insurance product applies to any number of tyres purchased – not necessary to purchase four tyres for this product. The free All Road Hazard is only available from Dunlop Zone, Dunlop Express, Dunlop Commercial and Dunlop Container stores. 

Get total peace of mind to take the road with confidence. Visit www.dunlop.co.za

When dusk starts to settle, the Highway Junction Truck Stop at Harrimsith becomes a hive of activity as more than a thousand truck drivers descend here to park overnight, refuel, fill up on essentials, take a shower, socialise with friends and get some much-needed rest from their grueling jobs moving freight along South Africa’s busy highways.

Operating 24-hours a day, seven days a week, the Highway Junction Truck Stop is not only Africa’s largest truck stop, but it is also its busiest. Many truck drivers passing along the N3 corridor make Highway Junction their preferred stopover.

The Highway Junction Truck Stop was started by Ben and Amanda Deysel in May 1998. Since 2015, Highway Junction is proud to have partnered with the Transport Sector Retirement Fund. Its facilities have recently been revamped and expanded to offer three forecourts, convenient and secure overnight parking facilities to our country’s trucking fraternity. “We aim to serve the transport community with quality accommodation-, warehousing-, trucking service centre (workshops)-, refueling-, healthy food-, primary healthcare and recreational facilities,” explained Ben Deysel, CEO of Highway Junction.

“It is the only truck stop of its kind and size on the continent with in excess of 1 500 vehicles passing through this facility daily.” It is for this reason that Hollard Insurance, and their co-sponsor the Transport Sector Retirement Fund, chose the Highway Junction Truck Stop as the ideal venue to promote the annual Hollard Highway Heroes competition to truckers last week. Searching for South Africa’s best truck driver – the Hollard Highway Heroes competition

For the first time since the inception of the competition in 2015, the Hollard Specialist Insurance Company, Hollard Trucking (this year) opened its Highway Heroes competition to all truck drivers in South Africa, affording the Transport Sector Retirement Fund and other partners the opportunity to come on board to recognise trucking excellence.

For the duration of the competition, the driving behaviour of entrants in the competition will be closely monitored by the Hollard Trucking Bureau through the utilisation of fleet tracking technology. Through careful monitoring, a pro-active driver-centric approach is followed to manage risk from speeding to fatigue, harsh braking patterns and other high-risk alarms to ultimately improve driver decision-making and actions.

Hollard and its partners are committed to help the transport sector move towards better futures. In this endeavour, we are convinced that initiatives such as the Hollard Highway Heroes competition will go a long way to encourage skills development and excellence in the industry, which in turn will bring about systemic change and improved safety standards, lowering individual risks and help to make our country’s roads safer for all.

“Every day, on the roads, our members carry the responsibility of not only keeping themselves safe, but to also safely transport the goods entrusted in their care, ensuring their employers’ assets are protected, and their fellow road users are considered. Our truckers keep the country’s economy moving forward and the Hollard Highway Heroes competition helps to recognise the key strategic role they fulfil,” said Mandla Nkosi, member of the TSRF board of trustees who also attended the activation at Highway Junction on Tuesday night.

“The awareness drive at Highway Junction was hugely successful with numerous entries into the competition being received on the night,” confirmed Nkosi. Entries into the Hollard Highway Heroes competition close on 31 May 2019. Thereafter drivers will be monitored until 31 July when the top 50 drivers will be chosen and monitored again for a further 45 days. The winner will be announced on 14 November 2019 and will walk away with R 100 000.00 in prize money.

“Together with the TSRF, we are proud to be associated with the Hollard Highway Heroes initiative to recognise South Africa’s best truck driver,” ended Deysel

The Transport Sector Retirement Fund (TSRF) with its 70 000 members from 3000 employers is keenly aware that the majority of its members (70%) earn their bread and butter whilst transporting goods and people on our country’s roads.

“As much as our aim is to preserve the livelihoods of our members and their families (through their retirement funds and death- and disability cover), we are also committed to help ensure their comfort and safety while they are still actively employed,” says the Fund’s principal officer, Joe Letswalo.Truck crashes cost the transport industry up to R 18-billion annually and have a devastating effect on individuals, their families, transport operators, aligned industries and indeed the whole country.

“As a retirement fund, we continually look for ways to improve members’ lives. In this endeavour, the TSRF has developed a responsible investment strategy to build more truck stops to enhance the safety and standard of overnight parking facilities for truck drivers; and to create transport hubs along major routes where transporters can easily access quality restaurants-, primary healthcare-, refuelling and auxiliary services,” explains Letswalo.There are an insufficient number of truck stops, and no established truck stop brand in South Africa; and often the existing truck stops do not provide adequate rest and security facilities.

TSRF’s truck stop investment strategy aligns with the CSIR’s research findings and recommendations, including more and better rest areas; facilities for regular safety checks; improved integration of road safety and fleet management systems; and improved regulation.

“We, at TSRF, consider truck stops to be this missing link in the country’s road transport and safety strategy.”The Transport Sector Retirement Fund aims to develop a national truck stop brand which will create a strong, recognisable identity as an endorsement of standards and regulations that support the transport and logistics industry. The first truck stop upgraded and further developed by the TSRF is the Harrismith Highway Junction Truck Stop on the N3 corridor. This expansion was done in a joint venture with the Highway Group.  The Highway Junction is now the first multi-brand facility of its kind in South Africa and undoubtedly one of the biggest and busiest truck stops on the continent, with more than a 1000 trucks parking at this facility every night. 

“We have the advantage of being the first mover and believe truck stops will support the creation of efficient transport hubs,” explains Letswalo. The TSRF, through its Truck Stop Fund, has already earmarked sites in Cape Town, East London, Colesberg and Musina for development. The new truck stop sites are expected to be completed during 2020/2021.

“Further to this, our partnership with the Arrive Alive Online Initiative will assist us to cross share knowledge and information in the transport sector, and to create a greater awareness of the challenges faced by transporters, and the steps taken to address these challenges to ultimately limit the risks and exposure our members face on a daily basis,” says Letswalo.

Advocate Johan Jonck, owner of the Arrive Alive Online Initiative, shares this vision. “We look forward to close cooperation with the TSRF and our joint efforts to enhance safety for all the valued members of the Fund. We believe that an informed road user is a safer road user and information portals can contribute to the safer sharing of roads by all road users, irrespective of their modes of transport,” ends Jonck.

Relevant news updates and more information will be made available on www.arrivealive.co.za; as well as on the following blogs: roadsafety.co.za; accidents.co.za; truckandfreight.co.za; insurancechat.co.za; and on Facebook: @ArriveAlive.co.za and Twitter: @_ArriveAlive.

As South Africa gears up for peak holiday traffic volumes experienced during December, road safety is at the forefront of the minds of those who manage traffic flow and all road users.  The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) recently teamed up with the City of Johannesburg to host a Quality Road Markings event in support of Transport Month and to increase safety and user experience on the city’s roads.

Plascon was one of three paint suppliers to demonstrate their road-marking paint products at the event which took place at Hyde Park 6th Road between Jan Smuts and First Road last month.  Road marking paint is critical to ensuring road safety as it needs to be both visible and durable. The paint products showcased by Plascon and the other suppliers had to comply with the following factors required by JRA: 

• Paint products must include crystal glass beads with the strong capacity for absorbing, storing and emitting light.
• Can glow for more than twelve hours in the dark thereby increasing safety for road users.
• All the paints (pigments, masterbatches, and aggregates) are non-toxic with no radioactive additives. They must be harmless to the environment which offers a greater level of social responsibility.
• Paints must be quick drying and suitable for direct application to all types of new or previously painted bituminous and concrete road surfaces.
• Can be applied by brush, roller or road striping machine.
• Must have good retro reflectivity due to excellent glass bead retention.
• Produce a surface with anti-skid properties thereby increasing safety when it is raining.

Rolf Redelinghuys, who heads up Plascon’s road-marking paint division, highlights the importance of using specialised highly visible, durable and long lasting road-marking paints to keep traffic flowing smoothly and minimise driver distraction. “It can be applied to all suitable bitumen, asphalt and concrete road surfaces. The specialised resin technologies used in these products, provide maximum resistance to wear and weather conditions.  

These products can be used for painting traffic lines on freeways, city streets, airport runways, factories, parking lots, playgrounds – wherever durable traffic markings are required. “Importantly, to minimise traffic disruptions during application, these products dry rapidly within 15 minutes."

“Another important feature is that these Plascon road-marking paints are very durable with high visibility during the day and night time and designed to withstand a wide range of road and weather conditions that reduces the repainting frequency of lines within the city. Generally speaking, suitable quality asphalt roads exposed to the high traffic volumes within the city and the varying highveld weather conditions in Johannesburg, traffic line markings under ideal conditions should last up to three years. Furthermore, the product is water based and therefore have low risk to operators and is environmentally friendly.” 

Plascon Brand Manager Mareta Le Roux says, “It was an honour for Plascon to be invited to participate in the JRA and City of Johannesburg’s worthwhile road markings initiative, which highlighted the importance of road-marking paint in improving the user experience and safety of Joburg’s roads.”