Hero Truckest Saves Motorist on Fire

Over the last 20 years, the demise of South Africa’s freight-by-rail infrastructure has shifted the burden of transporting vital products and materials to support the nation’s growing economy onto road transport, specifically, heavy-duty trucks.  Every day, road-going truck fleets deliver millions of tons of freight to service infrastructural development and commercial enterprise.

With economic growth comes a greater need for personal mobility and South Africa’s relatively under-developed public transport system has necessitated an ever-growing number of passenger vehicles on its roads which has resulted in extreme traffic  congestion and a rise in road accidents, all the while making efficient passage of trucks all the more difficult and dangerous.

“With daily personal and commercial logistics schedules under duress, our roads have become virtual battle-zones,” says Mariette Joubert, national sales manager Drive Report, a leading local driver-behaviour management company. “More often than not, it is trucks that become the target of motorists’ road rage, simply because they’re slower than cars and do cause traffic to back up. The majority of the public is oblivious to the indispensable role trucks play in keeping our economy alive.”

While the work undertaken by truck drivers may be under-appreciated by the public, Drive Report, via its dedicated call-centre, acts as a hotline between motorists and fleet owners, not only relaying messages of poor driving by fleet drivers but also conveying words of praise when a truck driver acts in an exemplary fashion.

“Drive Report has a reward programme that celebrates those drivers who display noble behaviour while on the road in vehicles displaying the Drive Report 0860 555 999 bumper sticker. Motorists who witness positive driving by these drivers are surprisingly keen to report those incidents and a case in point happened late last year when a concrete mixer truck from the Lafarge Readymix fleet came to the rescue of a motorist whose car had come to a standstill and was ablaze,” says Joubert. 

According to the truck driver, John Koka, whose Volvo FM9 mixer truck is owned by Lafarge subcontractor, Mannie Ascensao: “I was delivering readymix concrete to a construction site in Gosforth Park in busy morning traffic when I noticed a BMW on fire by the side of the road. A male in his mid-thirties was trapped inside. I could see that his airbag had opened, pinning him to his seat. I immediately stopped my truck and ran to his assistance.”

Koka had the presence of mind to grab his fire extinguisher, disconnect the BMW’s battery and swiftly extinguish the flames.

“The man was already drowsy from the smoke coming from the dashboard of his car and his feet were on fire,” adds Koka. “A female motorist saw what I did and called the Drive Report hotline to report the incident.”

Koka’s valiant efforts were immediately logged by the Drive Report 24/7 call centre. “We’re not only impressed with John’s reaction to the emergency situation, but also by Drive Report’s swift response to the call-in from the lady motorist. Two messages were immediately sent by Drive Report to our head office notifying us of John’s bravery,” says Denzil Moodley, Southern Cluster sales manager, Lafarge Readymix.
A Drive Report ‘Hero’ award was personally presented to Koka by Joubert at Lafarge’s Herriotdale depot in early December 2009. “The Hero Award includes a certificate and a soccer ball and sports bag,” explains Joubert. “More importantly, the award serves to recognise and reward good driving behaviour, promoting good citizenship through positive reinforcement of drivers who strive to set a good example on our roads.”

Despite a stringent delivery schedule and the danger of the car exploding while he rescued the trapped motorist, Koka acted like a true ‘good Samaritan’: “I feel great; not only because I have received this award from Drive Report but for being able to save a man’s life,” concludes Koka.