Aged 62, Dave Bonello has over 40 years of experience in the trucking game – and more than a few interesting stories to tell.
A larrikin truckie, he tries to bring the fun and humour into everyone’s day, while also imparting his wisdom to those new to the trucking game.
Dave has worked for South East Queensland Hauliers (SEQH), based at the Brisbane depot, for over three years. He drives a 700hp Volvo and A-double set-up, transporting containers up to Toowoomba and back. He also does occasional road train work into Mackay, and runs from Toowoomba into the mines.
As he explained, prior to starting at SEQH, “I had retired for about four years. I had a friend working there who said they needed drivers. I was getting lazy at home so I thought bugger it, I’ll go back and drive, doing local instead of interstate – and see how it goes,” said Dave.
“I love the industry, I really do. I’ve thought about getting out of it so many times but I’ve never been able to do it.”
This year, Dave put his hand up to be part of SEQH’s professional driver mentor program, where some of the company’s most experienced truck drivers support newer drivers by providing hands on training from inside the cab.
At a time where many companies are struggling to get bums in seats, Dave believes programs such as this are invaluable to ensure people are properly trained before hitting the road.
“Anyone can drive a truck. But too many drivers have no defensive driving skills and can’t even change a tyre or a light globe,” said Dave.
“There are many companies out there who don’t invest in training. My philosophy is that if you train drivers properly, it’s going to save you money in the long run – less accidents, they use less fuel and do the job better.
“When I’m training people, I like to make them feel at ease and relaxed. I play little scenario games, asking what they would do if the car in front of them did this or the car to the side of them did that. It’s about helping to advance their driving skills.”
Dave is also the subject of a series of videos being released by SEQH, where he delves into his industry knowledge, discusses training techniques and shares some of his stories.
Throughout his career, Dave has held various roles, including 19 years delivering dangerous goods interstate with TNT and five years on general freight with Toll.
He says that throughout his decades in the industry, he’s remained passionate about sharing his on-road knowledge.
“Even before officially joining the mentor program, I was always trying to help others wherever I can. I trained many drivers at TNT too until they were skilled enough to go into the advanced driving courses,” explained Dave.
He believes allowing newer drivers to learn from more experienced drivers is the way to go. “I reckon that’s the most important thing. That’s how I learnt. I got trained by experienced drivers who knew what to look out for.
“It doesn’t matter how much experience you have though, there’s always more to learn. For example, I’ve needed some of the younger drivers to teach me how to connect to Bluetooth and that sort of thing. I’ve had an 18 year old come up to me in a brand new truck and show me things I didn’t know. You’re always learning, that’s all part of it.
“A poor attitude is the worst thing you can have. An attitude is not for a truck driver.”
He added that he believes defensive driving is the most important thing to teach and learn. “And I don’t think enough people teach that anymore.”
For Dave, his defensive driving skills served invaluable when he was involved in the only accident he’s ever had.
That was about 20 years ago, when a mother and her young son were travelling in a car towing a hire trailer and lost control.
“She had a 12 tonne tow ball on the back. I was in a B-double and clipped the back of her,” recalled Dave.
“I saw her as I was coming down the hill and was thinking, please don’t hit the brakes! And she hit the brakes. The car and trailer split and when she spun out in front of me, all I could see was this little boy in the back seat.
“I could have ran over the top of her car or tried to go around her and the trailer could have gone over her car. So I purposely hit her rear corner to spin her around and then drove down the gully for a couple of hundred feet. When I drove out, I blew a few air bags.
“When the police came to the scene, they found there was no nut at the bottom of the tow ball and the clip holding the chain looked like something from a $2 shop. That’s why the car and trailer separated from each other. They weren’t connected properly.
“For five years she bought me lottery tickets as a thank you for saving her life and sent me Christmas cards.”
As a driver mentor at SEQH, some of the new drivers Dave has helped included a man named Oscar who was still learning to speak English. “That made it a lot harder. He hadn’t driven very much so it was a challenge but I showed him and gave him confidence,” said Dave.
“There was nothing better than seeing the smile on his face when he realised he could do it. The appreciation he had at the end of it all was really good.”