Driver 39 May

Win this mini fridge/warmer News to inspire professional drivers of all size vehicles in southern Africa

Nr 39, May 201 6

Robot trucks cannot take your job, yet

Kan lorries wat hulself bestuur 'n mens vervang? ALWYN VILJOEN se ja, dit gebeur klaar in steengroef myne, maar op openbare paaie in Afrika? Daai is nou vir jou 'n heel ander storie.

For a chance to win this mini fridge/warmer, compliments of FAW Trucks, SMS to 073 062 4674 what lifestyle disease most drivers face?

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Compiled in KZN by volunteers Alwyn Viljoen, Madoda Plaatjie, Moses Makhathini and Regi Naidoo.

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TRUCK makers Freightliner, Mercedes-Benz, Scania and Volvo have all shown their robot truck can steer themselves down a highway.

Drivers in these trucks have all expe-rienced how they can keep themsel-ves in the middle of the lane and re-duce speed to match the traffic ahead.

What they cannot do yet is anticipate traffic, but fleet managers are happy with the fuel saving they stand to get from using the fast reactions of robot trucks to help drivers tuck in behind each on highways.

As any veteran driver knows, following close to the truck in front uses less diesel, but you need to be ready to stop every second. Robot trucks can react and brake much faster than any human and the machine can of course drive 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as they have done since 2010 on three mines

job, but they can reduce risk and with that, your responsibilities.

This means they can turn drivers into machine minders, rather than managers of multi-million rand rigs, which mean every fleet operator will try to pay drivers even less. But this ain't gonna happen, predicts the truckers who drive in Africa, where truckers say no machine can think fast Robot lorries drive very well on Europe's enough to steer a rigs. The Driver highways and in Australian mines, but it will spoke to Wynand ofTAC trucbe decades before they can match king who said he will lick the a good driver's ability to handle these tailpipe of any robot truck that typical scenes in Africa. can drive through northern Photos: OneManKann, YouTube Mozambique or Tanzania. crumbling roads are too in Australia, where giant But Komatsu's giant lorries can There narrow to pass safely and there Komatsu trucks move millions of only work so precisely in the are no nice lines painted to show tons of rocks a month. controlled environment of a mine. the robot where to go.

And these giant self-steering And to platoon trucks in convoy Champion driver Regi Naidoo robots do a much better job than needs a lot of planning and agrees. says he still has to meet humans. A dozen trucks leaving permissions. And rtobot trucks the robot that can match his only one set of tyre tracks on a are expensive, more so than the experience and talent to maintain route that changes daily. diesel they save. Which all means a truck's mo-mentum.

"They all brake on the down hill They also don't get sick, don't drivers jobs are safe, for now. and then boost too late on the Machine minders or drivers? get tired, don't attend funerals and uphill, which chews diesel."

Robot trucks can't yet take your theydrink only diesel.

Eish, that Tata Ace

CHANA and Tata offer the cheapest little bakkies in South africa, but if we have to choose between these two, we will take the Chana.

This Chinese is tough, can pull a 350kg trailer and the double cab is quite roomy.

Not so the Ace, which "keeps breaking down", according reports by ownerdrivers like Elmarie Uys on Hallo Peter. Her first Ace boiled halfway up any hill.

Her Ace also gets too hot.

"My trusty doublecab Chana was written off by a police bakkie, and I am still angry that my husband replaced it with the Ace!" she told The Driver. "I even took Vaseline to the dealer to shove it (the Ace) up their arse!" - DR.

Cheat with gravity Long-distance drivers will get Type 2 diabetes, unless they bounce about like astronauts, say the experts FIRST the good news.

Trucking Welness nurses like Portia Mbatha and Sibongile Nala said because driver are behaving, HIV infections have decreased from 20% when the initiative started in 1 999 to the current 8,9% of over 40,000 drivers screened last year.

They say this means they can now focus on identifying other diseases that impact on drivers’ lives, like diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

Now for the bad news.

Dr Larry Distiller, founder and managing director of the Centre for Diabetes and Endocrinology in Jo'burg, says a diet high in fat, sugar and salt plus little exercise will result in Type 2 diabetes.

This describes all truckers, but Distiller warns it takes on average seven years for a person to get diagnosed with diabetes for the first time. It means one in three drivers with type 2 diabetes have already developed complications by the time they are diagnosed.

As all long-distance drivers eat unhealthy diets and get very little

exercise, the question arise: Are we then doomed to develop Type 2 Diabetes? Far from it!

While all long distance drivers are most at risk to develop Type 2 diabetes, they can also reversed the effects of this lifestyle disease by eating right and doing just two minutes of cardio exercise twice a day. But few drivers want to get down on the dirt to do push-ups.

Which is why we recommend bouncing on a small trampoline.

Studies by NASA scientists show that bouncing on a trampoline is 68% more effective than jogging, develops body strength better than weight lifting and is a better all-around exercise than swimming. But it is the lymphatic system that benefits the most, as the rhythmic increase and decrease of G-Forces during two minutes of rebounding push lymph fluids throughout the lymph ducts to clean the entire body, leaving the driver energised and healthier. A small trampoline sells for less than R500, and is the best health investment for drivers. -DR

A trampoline like this costs less than R500 and two minutes of bouncing equals a 1 ,5 km jog.

Lifestyle tips for long distance drivers

Get enough sleep. Tired Exercise. Two minutes

drivers cannot focus, get of rebounding will add seven hours sleep a day. years to your life, as will Eat healthy. Two apples a few star jumps and a day will help keep the stretches. doctor away by keeping Don't stress it, solve it.

Driving gives you time the important gut to think, so define the microbes happy.

Drink lots of water. Fill problem and visualise the steps you will take a liter bottle with water and empty it by taking a towards the solution. few sips during the day. Treasure loved ones.

Quit smoking. You know People with strong social Elmarie Uys is still angry with ties live longer than all the reasons why, so her husband for replacing the those who are always just stop being the bitch kaput Ace with another fighting with someone. of nicotine.

'Kapokkie Trokkie' May 2016 Contact the drivers at The Driver News by SMS on 073 062 4674, e-mail us on thedriverdigest@gmail.com. see more on www.drivernews.co.za