Drivers are the backbone of the country’s supply chain and the movement of people, which makes their health and state of alertness while driving essential to keeping the economy functioning.
Driver fatigue remains one of the most underestimated threats to road safety.
Among the main causes of road accidents in Mozambique, as announced by the authorities, are actions such as driving under the influence of alcohol, improper overtaking, speeding, overloading of passengers and cargo, and a general disregard for traffic rules.
This is a professional group that operates in the transport of goods and passengers with total impunity, without any effective control, and is responsible for the vast majority of accidents — a group that, paradoxically, is rarely discussed.
It is therefore necessary to protect this important professional class by strengthening the legal framework governing eligibility to perform their duties, while also urgently implementing measures that will have an immediate effect in reducing the number of accidents and deaths in the country.
Zero Tolerance for Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol
Mozambique needs to implement a zero-tolerance regime for alcohol consumption among drivers of goods and passenger transport. This regime should include punitive measures for offenders, which may even lead to a permanent ban from the profession depending on the severity of the violations committed.
A driver activity registration system should be created so that transport companies know who they are hiring, and so that the Federation representing drivers can participate in their training and professional monitoring, and may even recommend, in extreme cases, the prohibition of professional activity.
Driver Eligibility Process
We believe that obtaining a driving licence for goods and passenger transport drivers should involve a more demanding training component and be complemented by additional requirements for professional practice.
For example, legislation should define minimum years of experience required to operate as a driver, depending on the type of licence issued and the length of routes.
The transition of a driver to longer routes should even be preceded by a successful examination, conducted by the body responsible for overseeing driver career management.
In this assessment process, consideration should be given not only to the driver’s years of experience, but also to practical performance indicators such as the number and type of fines — speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, overloading cargo and/or passengers, accidents for which they were responsible, among others — as well as awards and recognition received from employers during their career.
Representative Body
In the course of their activity, drivers represent the vehicles they operate and are responsible for the goods and passengers they transport. As noted at the beginning of this article, they are the backbone of the transport system.
However, it is unclear why this highly important professional group is largely neglected and unprotected by legislation, given that the requirements to operate are practically non-existent.
Considering the volume of traffic in development corridors, megaprojects across various provinces, and the movement of goods and passengers along the national road network inside and outside urban centres, it is essential to establish a national representative body for drivers, which would act as the entity responsible for engaging with both the government and other public and private institutions.
The work of drivers can be extremely demanding, especially in long-haul transport, and varies significantly depending on the type of transport and geographic areas in which they operate.
Their representation should be separate from the entities that represent freight and passenger transport.
Any driver who successfully completes the eligibility process should automatically be registered in this representative body.
In truth, these two sectors — freight transport and passenger transport — should be organised into separate entities, as they are activities that have little or nothing in common.
