The feasibility of in-transit roadworthiness tests on the national roads of South Africa

Abstract

Globally, it is estimated that a fatal or serious car accident happens every six seconds; thus, declaring car accidents as a global epidemic. These car accidents are classified as either: driver related, vehicle related or environmentally related. Vehicle related factors are those that are concerned with the road-fitness of vehicles or otherwise known as the roadworthiness of a vehicle. The poor roadworthiness of vehicles using the South African roads is mainly the cause of four main contributing factors which are: poor visibility of vehicles, poor braking systems, tire failure and over-weight cargo. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop possible solutions to the problem of poor roadworthiness in South Africa, whilst considering the utilization of currently established infrastructure, the financial implications and the overall travelling time of travelers on the national roads of South Africa. The document includes research that was conducted on the testing and evaluation of roadworthiness in the United Kingdom and Japan as well as on local grounds. A possible three solutions were generated and developed that would: be able to solve the poor roadworthiness problem, be able to adjust to the current philosophies of South African road users, as well as add to the global competiveness of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL). These solutions were then tested for feasibility, against one another, in a decision matrix where the most feasible solution was determined. The most feasible solution was further investigated, by means of simulation modeling and the utilization of the Queuing Theory, to justify the unconvincing rank of feasible solutions that were identified during the decision matrix evaluation. Safer roads are the responsibility of all South African citizens, and engineers should continuously try to design and developed new solutions to the problem of poor roadworthiness in South Africa and thus, indirectly solve the problem of poor road safety.