KZN license fees too high

They sound well-groomed on air: editor Alwyn Viljoen, veteran
car man Fred Rascher and DJ Brian Bassett

Summary of talking points on "Nqola", the Saturday morning car show co-hosted by Witness Wheels on Capital 104 fm, serving the Msunduzi Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.
 In studio: Brian Bassett, Fred Racher and Alwyn Viljoen

License fees highest in KZN

Viljoen stated KZN has the  highest licensing fees in South Africa, stated many fleet owners are opening offices in neighbouring provinces to register their fleets there, which is losing the province millions in revenue, and urged the provincial government to lower license fees so that fleet owners

SANTACO-KZN will again ­select its best driver based on passenger nominations, in Mkondeni, on Valentine’s Day.

Santaco started the annual Best Driver of the Year campaign to encourage higher driving standards among all taxi drivers, including obeying the rules of the road, respecting commuters and avoiding negligence.

The regional chair, Boy Zondi, said in a statement that one of Santaco’s major concerns is that many commuters have no alternative transport to taxis.

“It then becomes imperative that as Santaco-KZN, we try our utmost best to provide safe and reliable transport to all commuters, and send a message to our drivers that we cannot tolerate negligence, namely speeding, drinking and driving, and overloading of any kind,” said Zondi.

Earlier this year, commuters were invited to vote for the driver who drives safely and communicates well with passengers, and the 10 drivers who received the most votes are now to pit their skills behind the wheel for the coveted award.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the tests, which take place at the ­Mkondeni Testing Grounds in Pietermaritzburg from 8 am on February 14.

Printing molten metal

NOT content with having developed the world’s first road legal, fully solar-powered car, called Stella Lux, students at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands have now created the world’s first stainless steel bike using a 3D printing robot.

Leader of the five members, Harry Anderson, an industrial design student from RMIT university in Australia who studies at Delft, explained that current 3D printing methods cannot render large scale

Himalayan not for South Africa, yet

The Himalyan LS410

After Royal Enfield last year bought the UK-based Harris Performance, the English company designed the frame of the new Himalyan LS410, a dual purpose bike making 32 Nm at 4 000 rpm from the over-stroked 411 cc single-cylinder engine, which gives the 182 kg bike all the grunt it needs for easy city and cross country riding.
Royal Enfield claims a range of 450 km from the 15 litre tank and will start selling the bike for under R70k in India. There are no plans, yet, to export to South Africa.

Is Hilux still SA's top bakkie?

Rose Nkabinde of Driving in Heels does like the new Hilux interior. 

SOUTH Africa has two kinds of bakkie buyers —  those in a Hilux, of which over a million models were sold since 1969, and those in other makes.

The latter group are keenly awaiting the latest car-like comforts in the likes of the new Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi Triton and even the new Fiat Fullback (made with Mitsubishi), while the fans of the Ranger, Isuzu, Amarok, Bolero and Steed remain true to their brands.

The Hilux disciples, however, couldn’t care less. All they want to know is when can they wrap their

Top drivers voted by passengers

The 2016 top drivers of Santaco KZN, with the RTI inspectors.

THE KwaZulu-Natal branch of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) on Saturday honoured their top drivers for the second year running.

Santaco KZN chairperson Boy Zondi said the initiative aimed to minimise the carnage on SA’s roads.

“One of the major concerns that we have is the issue of safety for the public who use our transport and have no other alternative. We are sending a message to our drivers that we cannot tolerate negligence, namely speeding, drinking and driving, overload and such.”

This year’s competition saw passengers vote for their drivers through a paid SMS from December

Historic milestones in KZN

Going into the main bend of the Roy Hesketh circuit in
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, circa 1953.

14 September 1918
Soldiers arrive with the first cases “Spanish Flu”, a deadly strain of the H1N1 influenza virus, in Durban. Also known as the Great Flu, this strain of H1N1 caused a fatal over-reaction in adults’ immune systems, whose deaths often left destitute young and aged dependents whose immune systems had weaker reactions. Thus the 1918 flu caused the death of an estimated 50 to 100 million people worldwide.

June 1925
Zulu Prince Solomon met the British heir apparent, Edward, Prince of Wales.

29 October 1929
Share prices on the New York Stock Exchange collapse, starting the Big Depression.

More airbag troubles

Honda no more uses these Takata airbags.

FULL marks to Mazda for biting the Takata bullet.

The group is recalling certain models equipped with Takata airbags from 2003 to 2007, with an estimated 8 000 of these models in South Africa.

The models include Mazda6 and Mazda RX-8 produced between 2003 and 2007, with VIN numbers starting with JM6GG or JMZSE.

These vehicles are equipped with the “PSDI-4” driver-side air bag inflator, the “SDI-160” driver side airbag inflator, or the “SPI” passenger-side airbag inflator, which may not have enough propellant in the passenger-side airbag.

This might cause the propellant to ignite abnormally at the time of airbag deployment and potentially result in extremely high inner pressure of the inflator causing a rupture of the inflator case.

Mazda Southern Africa said in a statement its dealer workshops will conduct a repair procedure to replace the driver-side airbag and passenger-side airbag inflator with an improved unit on the possibly affected vehicles.

Although the number of affected vehicles will be subject to further review and may change, Mazda South Africa urges all owners with possibly affected Mazda6 and Mazda RX-8 vehicles to contact Mazda SA.

Meanwhile, Associated Press reported another problem has developed with automotive airbags, this one resulting in recalls of five-million vehicles.

Continental Automotive Systems, says in documents filed with the U.S. government that moisture can get inside its airbag control computers, causing the power supplies to corrode and fail.

If that happens, airbags may not inflate in a crash or they could deploy without a crash. Documents say Continental will notify automakers, who will recall cars dating to 2006. Already Honda, Fiat Chrysler and Mercedes have issued recalls.

The Continental announcement comes in the middle of a recall crisis involving Japan’s Takata airbag inflators. — WR-AP.

Best ebike options in South Africa

You want HOW much for this eletric MINI bike!?
asks Alwyn Viljoen 

FOLLOWING the news of the first official case of techno doping in professional racing, a few Wheels readers who also want the benefit of a motorised pedal bike up our steep hills have asked about electric bikes in SA.

Rather than take chances on the slew of dubious quality Chinese motors one can buy online, we can