PBS webinar

14 October 2020

Improving the safety of heavy vehicles in

South Africa through a performance-based
standards (PBS) approach to vehicle design:
The SA PBS pilot project

Dr Paul Nordengen
Smart Truck National Steering Committee
Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology Africa
PBS Pilot Project in South Africa

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PBS Pilot Project in South Africa

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Access: Route assessments

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Access: Route assessments

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Access: Route compliance

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Access: Speed compliance

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Forestry baseline and PBS vehicles

22,0 m, 56.0 tons

24.0 m, 64.1 tons

27.0 m. 67.5 tons

25.8 m, 67.5 tons

25.0 m, 70.0 tons

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Buhle Betfu Rigid drawbar

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Timber Logistics Services Rigid drawbar

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Mining side-tipper

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 Unitrans
BAB Quad
Unitrans B-Triple vs BAB Quad

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Barloworld Transport Sugar Bottom Dumper

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SG Coal B-double

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Unitrans Fuel Quad

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Fuel Quad Case Study

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Beefmaster B-triple for cattle

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SA Breweries PBS combination

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SA Breweries E. Cape PBS combinations:
Efficiency improvements

Kms Kms Hours on Hours Fuel Fuel

Travelled Saved the road Saved Used (ℓ) Saved (ℓ)

Dec-16 33 250 13 253 621 248 23 940 3 962

Jan-17 74 642 29 720 1 477 588 55 059 7 558

Feb-17 63 854 25 519 1 245 497 46 564 7 060

Mar-17 82 108 32 349 1 614 636 60 497 8 117

Total 253 854 100 841 4 957 1 969 186 060 26 697

% Savings 28.4 28.4 12.5

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ZZ2 B-triple for tomatoes

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B-double Tautliner Case Study

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Overtaking evaluation of baseline and longer PBS vehicles

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Overtaking evaluation of baseline and longer PBS vehicles

Trips to Overtaki Increase

Increased Weight Move ng Time d Time
Time to Time for 1 Pallets per Pallet 100 for 100 for 100
Overtake (s) vehicle pass on truck (KG) Pallets Pallets Pallets

Baseline 9.2 28.3 1350 3.5 32.5 30.7%

PBS 9.95 8.2% 40 1350 2.5 24.9
Overspeeding baseline
(100 km/hr) 10.96 19.1% 28.3 1350 3.5 38.7 55.7%
Overspeeding baseline
(110 km/hr) 18.17 97.5% 28.3 1350 3.5 64.2 158.1%

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PBS Bi-articulated Bus

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PBS Bi-articulated Bus

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Car Carriers

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 Tail swing
Y Frontal swing
X
Low-speed
swept path

LSSP
DoM
12.5 m
Rear overhang MoD
FS

TS Prescribed path
Tail swing Front corner (tractor)
Front corner (semitrailer)
Rear corner (semitrailer)
Inner edge (semitrailer)
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 Tail swing

• Existing car-carriers were shown to exhibit poor tail swing performance

due to excessive rear overhangs.
• Tail swing of up to 710 mm was calculated (limit = 300 mm).
• This was shown to be a result of lenient rear overhang legislation.

Rear Overhang Tail Swing

Australia South Africa Australia South Africa
Vehicle type ADR 43/04 NRTR PBS Level 1 NRTR
Rigid truck 3.7 m 5.01 m 0.30 m 0.60 m
Semitrailer 3.7 m 6.32 m 0.30 m 0.87 m
Tag-trailer 3.7 m 7.00 m 0.30 m 1.25 m

De Saxe, C.C., Kienhöfer, F. & Nordengen, P.A., 2012. Tail swing performance of the South African car-carrier fleet. In
12th International Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology. Stockholm.

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 Coca Cola PBS A-double
• Moving from the current baseline fleet to the 44 pallet PBS fleet will
result in a significant reduction in transport activity, with a direct
impact on reducing road congestion, improving road safety as well as
reducing environmental impact.
• First two PBS vehicles have started operating – FS & NC – Intensive
Management & Reporting
• Why PBS vehicles?
• Costs: Reduce Primary Distribution Costs
• Safety: PBS trailers have better turning angles, safety and road
wear performance than the current PD trailers
• Environmental: Reduced Carbon Emissions due to reduced
number of vehicles
• PBS vehicles will carry 44 pallets with a total length of 30 metres

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Smart Truck Pilot Project: Impact

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Case Study - Australia

• PBS Benefits/Metrics Australia (2008 to

2019)
415 M
20% of new truck km saved
units were in 2019
PBS 46% less major
approved in crashes per km 0.6 Mt of CO2
2019 travelled saved
1.6 bn in 2019
10 385 PBS truck km saved
combinations (2008-2019)
Reduced
2 907 2.46 Mt
number of trips
combination 843 ML of of CO2 saved
can lead to
“saved” fuel saved (2008-2019)
reduced road
maintenance (2008-2019)

Brisbane Port, Australia

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Smart Truck Pilot Project: Baseline vs PBS vehicles

PBS Baseline

2% 13% 13%

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3 56% 28%
Level 4
Fail
85% 3%

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Smart Truck Pilot Project: Baseline vehicles

Number of PBS Failures Percentage of Baseline Vehicles

Failing PBS assessment
40%
9%
35%
30%
18% 25%
20%
15%
73% 10%
5%
0%
Static Rollover Rearward Yaw Damping
1 Failure 2 Failures 3 Failures Threshold Amplification Coefficient

Performance Standards

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OECD Project: Moving Freight with Better Trucks

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OECD Project: Moving Freight with Better Trucks

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Smart Truck monitoring: Road wear

Estimated Savings in Road

Wear for 2017
(PBS vs Baseline):
o Total: R 4.7 to R6.4 million (R 0.3
to R 0.4 LEF/tonne.km)

o 13% reduction

o Average R 24 450 per vehicle

o Average R 0.34 per laden km

travelled

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Smart Truck monitoring: Crash rates

Crash rate ratio:

Smart Truck : Baseline 1:1.68 39
Smart Truck monitoring: Cost of crashes

Km Crash Rate
Cost/crash Total Cost
(million) (per million km)

Smart Trucks 195.47 1.14 R 300 000 R 66 850 000

Legal Trucks 261.10 2.09 R 300 000 R 163 710 000

Cost savings R 96 860 000

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Smart Trucks: Potential Gains

• Reduced vehicle trips i.e.

• Reduced congestion
• Reduced safety exposure risk
• Improved safety performance
• Improved transport productivity
• Reduced road wear (per ton.km)
• Reduced emissions (per ton.km)
• Improved performance of the SA heavy
vehicle fleet
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