Road safety remains a major challenge in South Africa as around 14 000 people die in road collisions every year. A critical shortage of skilled commercial vehicle drivers is one of the contributing factors to the country’s high accident rate; training therefore remains instrumental in efforts to improve road safety.
“Volvo is committed to educating women to qualify as heavy-duty commercial truck drivers, says Marcus Hörberg, Vice President of Volvo Group Southern Africa. “With women severely underrepresented in the industry, it is hoped that this initiative will help increase the pool of skilled women drivers in the country. This will not only help address the driver shortage, but hopefully improve road safety as well.”
The aim of the programme is to enhance the capacity of professional drivers and ultimately to enable them to contribute to their future employers’ fleet productivity, safety, profitability and efficiency. This qualification, approved by the Transport Education Training Authority, is based on both theoretical and practical modules. The first round of 20 women started their training in January 2019 at the Commercial Transport Academy (CTA) and are due to graduate this coming June.
“We are very proud to make a tangible contribution towards developing driver skills,” says Marcus Hörberg. “We believe that this project has the potential to affect change in the local transport industry, which will truly benefit from more gender diversity.”
Facts about Volvo Group Seasonal gift
Iron women in South Africa is one example of Volvo Group Seasonal gift. Volvo Group has decided to distribute the season's charitable gift to the markets for use in various societal projects. This way of working have proved to be making the gifts fruitful in the local markets. The gift is given from the Volvo Group on behalf of its employees to contribute to resolve the societies' challenges in the local markets, serving to create prosperity in the communities
Read more here about the driver training in South Africa and the Seasonal gift.
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