An evaluation of the impact of the Road Transport Management System (RTMS) workshop in promoting voluntary certification

Abstract

The Road Transport Management System (RTMS) is a South African road transport industry-led voluntary compliance scheme that ensures compliance in terms of vehicle condition, load safety, driver training, as well as speed and fatigue management. Certified companies report up to 20% fuel consumption reduction, and accidents reduced by up to 66%. The RTMS should therefore be readily adopted by industry, which, due to the safety outcomes, would be in the public interest. With 255 out of about 18 000 road transport companies in South Africa certified in the 16 years to end 2019, a penetration of about 2% has been achieved. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effectiveness of the RTMS workshops towards increasing the number of companies attaining RTMS certification. In order to do this, the effectiveness of the RTMS workshops was evaluated, particularly towards improving participants’ knowledge, motivation, commitment, and clarity on the requisite steps. A quasi-experimental single group pre-test post-test design was used. Surveys were conducted at five RTMS workshops around South Africa. Attendees answered questions pre and post the RTMS workshops and responded on a 5 point Likert scale in pencil-and-paper format. The results showed that the RTMS workshops increased the knowledge, motivation, commitment, and clarity on the requisite steps towards certification for first-time attendees and, to a lesser extent, repeat attendees and people from RTMS certified companies. The recommendations of this study are that the RTMS workshop be marketed specifically towards first-time attendees and that the two-day RTMS training course be positioned as an advanced offering to repeat attendees, or people from companies that are already certified. It is suggested that delegates be given course notes, as well as a flow chart of the steps to becoming RTMS certified. It is further suggested that a digital toolkit, examples of best practice and a list of RTMS consultants be made available to road transport operators wishing to get certified in order to reduce the barriers to implementation