A consolidated foresight study for South Africa’s transport sector was urgently needed, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research transport systems and operations manager Mathetha Mokonyama asserted on Monday, stating that the sector could do much more to embrace research and development (R&D).

Speaking at a Southern African – Netherlands Chamber of Commerce seminar under the theme “Innovating the South African Transport Sector for Long-Term growth” he said such a study should focus on all areas of transport including passenger and freight.

He noted that the country currently spent about 0.76% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on R&D, which amounted to about R22.2-billion a year.

This implied that the Department of Transport had to spend more than R300-million a year on R&D; however, it currently only spent between R10-million and R20-million on R&D.

“We have a long way to go to focusing on R&D in transport expenditure,” Mokonyama said.

Also speaking on the topic of R&D and innovation, construction firm Heijmans Technology MD Joziene van de Linde said the climate for innovation in South Africa was good.

She presented Heijmans and design firm Studio Roosegaarde’s Smart Highway concept.

A Smart Highway, for which the first test had been conducted in April, would entail aspects such as glow-in-the-dark lines on the road, and dynamic lines that could be switched between being solid and dotted.

Van de Linde said the firms were also currently working on enabling the road lines to change colour in line with different circumstances.

She explained that a certain lane’s lines could, for example, turn red if that particular lane was closed.

The partnership was also working on interactive lighting that could be used to indicate that a pedestrian was crossing the road, and would assist in saving electricity, as all the lights would not have to be on the entire time.