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Truckies unfairly penalised by regulator’s ‘safety’ campaign, says operator

Truckies should not have to take 45 minutes out of their work day to comply with the NHVR’s 12-week safety blitz, believes a frustrated Queensland operator who spoke out in protest of the campaign that starts this week.

Operators in all states and territories are now on notice to organise the time into the drivers’ scheduling to allow for the random roadside inspections.

Billed as the National Roadworthiness Survey (NRS), the regulator says the stops are necessary to “drive safety and efficiency improvements” to the mechanical condition of Australia’s heavy vehicle fleet.

“I’m trying to embrace this new age of fairness,” said the veteran who asked not to be named because “I don’t want a target on my back”.

“But I would like the NHVR to explain how do you all of a sudden manufacture three-quarters of an hour of extra work activity into a driver’s roster when you don’t know when you’re going to be intercepted?

“We’ve got mass and maintenance accreditations but if they’re going to do audits, and I’ve had them done, they notify you.

“It lets you know that you’ve got to be prepared to drop everything, like you should.

“But why is this the drivers’ problem, to be part of this, to make sure that the operator is compliant?

“The poor old driver has to find three-quarters of an hour just because the regulator wants to do a baseline on roadworthies.

“Do whatever you like, but why put them out?

The operator can’t see why the regulator couldn’t instead just give truckies more of an idea of where and when they might be pulled over.

“All I”m suggesting is commonsense. They could say, ‘listen, we’re going to do the Hume to the Queensland border between July 10-21’, for example.”

Further west, the operator believes you’ve almost got to have a standby truck ready for a changeover.

“There comes great expense because you’ve got to go and get another truck out of your arse. Have they unpacked this enough and really looked at the ramifications?

“The drivers over there are on 14-hour books as it is and cannot manufacture 45 minutes “for love or money”.

NHVR operations manager Tamie Haley said the NHVR recognises the survey may cause disruption for drivers and operators whose vehicles are stopped and inspected, and understands the importance of keeping the supply chain moving.

“Inspections can average around 45 minutes depending on the vehicle type and if there are defects identified, so it’s important for drivers to factor adequate time into their schedule to accommodate for this,” Haley explained.

“We understand industry works to tight schedules and where possible, all NHVR officers will ensure minimal disruption occurs – we will carry out these inspections effectively and efficiently.

“I encourage industry to prepare for the NRS by reading the NHVR Daily Safety Checklist – by taking a few minutes before each trip to check basic safety items on your vehicle, you can identify any issues and ensure the vehicle is safe and ready for the journey.”

NHVR safety and compliance officers, alongside police and authorised officers, will undertake random visual and mechanical inspections of around 8500 trucks, buses, and other Special Purpose Vehicles to “identify existing and emerging risk trends, with the aim of enhancing road safety across the heavy vehicle industry”.

The regulator says the results of the survey will be compared to the first one held in 2016 and the follow-up in 2021 to determine where both the NHVR and industry are making improvements in vehicle safety, and the areas that need more focus.

“Results from NRS 2021 showed the rate of non-conformities had dropped significantly in comparison to 2016, and we are hoping this downward trend continues,” added NHVR chief operations officer Paul Salvati.

“The results of NRS 2024 will help inform the NHVR’s modern approach to regulation, that uses data and intelligence to address the greatest safety risks on our roads and keep our heavy vehicle industry productive and efficient.”

11 Comments

  1. Let’s make the roads vehicle worthy first. The road from Roma to as far as Mount Isa is an absolute disgrace. The speed limit for cars is 110 kph. In a truck, it is almost impossible to get any higher than 70 kph without being thrown around the cab and the road is so narrow in places that the fog line has vanished. Some sections are good, but they are few and far between.

    1. In Any Work Place (except road transport) a safe working enviroment
      is non negotiable, So many east coast roads (bar freeways are a disgrace)
      Transport Company’s should be refunded for Road caused damage to
      there vehicle’s, they pay enough road tax they should be driving on
      some of the best roads in WORLD ! Oh Yes am a Caravan Driver,
      Governments get out of Jail Free Card (drive to the conditions) 🤣

  2. Re the inspections for existing and emerging risk trends I could tell the nhvr what they would be looking for with out having to get under a truck.T The condition of the roads we are driving on tells you that.

  3. I hope they include headlights in check. A lot of people putting led globes in standard head light surrounds/ lens resulting in very bright on coming lights, some of these globes are not A.D.R. compliant, off road use only, on packaging.

    1. I have zero interest in driving. I had a transport business for ten years and drove over twenty years.
      It’s not about safety but compliance and mainly control. Don’t forget that we vote for the regulations in place and pay for these people that penalise us. It’s crazy.

  4. He’s right. Government don’t care who they inconveniences, they care about public image, and their bottom line. When was the last time an inspector with a mechanics certificate pulled you over and knew exactly what they were looking at?
    Start charging the government for the downtime and delays? See how they go when the roles are reversed?
    We could do their job, and do, most of them couldn’t do ours.

  5. Totally agree with the anonymous source of the article and the resultant impact to lose 45 minutes out of OUR TIME. This certainly has not got any professionalism attached to it whatsoever by the NHVR. There is no transparency in regard to the program by the NHVR. ?? is the driver or operator going to be penalised and lose 45 minutes out of his driving time.?? If so , ULTIMATEY there should have been a ” tempory program measure ” put in place where the affected and disadvantaged driver /operator was allowed a notation in his work diary to work that 45 minutes lost , on the particular day . This notation is as the NHVR say , their recognition that the supply chain has to stay on schedule. As an Owner Driver for nearly 4 decades , i can verify that the 45 minutes lost could certainly cost that respective vehicle a day or load in its operation . I can however accept the reasoning behind not declaring where the program will be focused geographically as staying away from a targetted and declared area would make it easy to avoid for some. In closing, we used to have to present our equipment for annual roadworthys , which kept you on your toes with the mechanical state of your equipment. Clearly if you didn’t, it left too much to do to your equipment when the annual was due. Also another unprofessional issue with the program and the NHVR not declaring when and where /routes its happening is where they set up .
    Blind freddy knows they will take over rest areas which are not nominated or signposted checking areas and drivers approaching those specific allocated rest areas , may find themselves breaching the work diary to get to the next rest area. I’m sure there is a lot more gremlins involved in this program . Don’t have a problem with annual roadworthys , bring it on . Also, depending where you work and travel in this job, at this point of 5 decades steering , you don’t have to look too far to see where the substandard equipment is these days.
    Thats professional and more effective as blind freddy would say, youre looking at equipment every 12 months as opposed to this program of every 3 years.

  6. So an unqualified person is going to go over my truck and tell me it’s unsafe but a driver can not repair a heavy vehicle because they are not a qualified mechanic please make it make sense

  7. If there are problems that can be fixed on the spot the transport inspectors are all fully qualified mechanics should make the vehicle roadworthy to travel to a repairer instead of rushing for a pen to write up the truck with expensive fines .

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