Six more drivers have their say in the second part of our series inviting truckies to share the biggest issues they face out on the roads in 2024.
If you have something you’d like to share with the readers, drop us a note at editor@bigrigs.com.au and we’ll publish the responses in an upcoming issue.
Peter Naggar
Sandstone, WA
FIFO driver
“One of the main issues is a lack of proper rest areas. I either do the 700km round trip from Sandstone up to Wiluna where the mine is; or the 950km round trip from Sandstone to Geraldton if I’m going to the port. If I go on the mine run, there is absolutely nowhere decent to stop.
Once you’re out of the mine, there’s nothing at all. There’s one toilet on the road but you can’t get in there with a road train, it’s made for cars. There’s not a lot of phone reception either.
There are times where my tablet is screaming at me to stop – but there is nowhere to stop.
You go to one place and there’s no parking, then you go to the next one and there is no parking either.
Then on many of the highways where they do have parking bays, a lot of them don’t have facilities- we’re not animals. The government really needs to do something. There’s land there – they need to allocate it so they can build some proper rest areas and stop just talking about it.”
Gail Ritchie
Adelaide, SA
Driver, Qube Logistics
“I would say licensing is the biggest issue at the moment. We have a lot of people coming in from overseas.
I don’t think people should be able to obtain a licence overseas and then use it here, as it’s a totally different system, with different road rules.
There needs to at least be some sort of training and assessment before being able to get on the road.
There also needs to be a lot more done in the way of training.
Even though I do a relatively short run – it’s a 600km return trip – some of the things I’ve seen could’ve ended quite differently.
The biggest thing is the way overseas licences are handled when someone comes here and wants to drive on an international licence.
If I went overseas on an MC licence, I wouldn’t expect to be able to use it there, I’d expect to start from scratch.”
Rod Hannifey
Dubbo, NSW
Driver, Ron Pilon Transport
“Roads are our biggest problem – it’s the failure to build them properly, to repair them and lack of recognition of the impact they have.
Not only in terms of maintenance for the truck, which has gone through the roof, but also in how some of the failures are contributing factors to crashes. They don’t look back 100m up the road to find the big divot the bloke hit.
Everyone else has to have a safe workplace but the truck driver.
I see potholes every day a foot wide and a foot deep on the highway that aren’t fixed. You can’t fathom it. Then they put up a rough surface sign and leave it there for eight months.
How can they legally do that?
How can they be aware and not fix it? Then they go and put road works signs up.
Signs that say slow down and be careful. I can live with that. But not road works signs when there is nobody there.
I was coming into Melbourne, and they had a 40km/h limit on the Hume Highway. There’s no rain and they have everyone on the Hume doing 40km/h for 4km because their road is rooted.”
Indy Rosser
Geelong, Victoria
Driver, Riordan’s Grain Services
“Dickhead drivers are our biggest issue and that hasn’t changed in the 45 years I’ve been doing it.
But the issue is as much our own as it is the motorist. They, as far as I’m concerned, have an excuse to be dickheads because they’re not trained. Our fellow truck drivers don’t have that excuse because they’re supposed to be trained.
Whether they are or not is another matter.
The bottom line is we’re supposed to be the professionals so it’s up to us to anticipate stupidity on the parts of the motorist.
We’re not trained as well as we should be but they’re much worse trained.
The loss of the camaraderie is also a problem, as is the fact you can’t get a decent meal anywhere. How am I supposed to eat well and look after myself when I can only go to McDonalds?”
Thomas Hill
Darwin, NT
Driver, Emerald Carrying Company
“Up here, the only thing that bothers me and really grinds my gears is rest areas.
I think that’s a problem Australia-wide, but up here they’re few and far between and what we do have is just a pad to park on, there are no facilities.
There are that many caravan pull-up areas with tables, toilets, reception and they’re only used for six months of the year.
You have a lot of triples up here and half of the rest areas are only big enough to get two trucks in.
At least put toilet blocks and what not in them, even a long-drop and a water tank would go a long way and make a lot of us happy.
We don’t need picnic tables or anything fancy like the caravan ones.”
Trevor Warner
Brisbane, Queensland
Interstate driver
“At the moment, traffic in Queensland is impacting work diary restrictions which means everyone is driving like lunatics to get to where they need to go in the time they need to do it.
Once you navigate the highway then you’ve got to deal with the red tape and the safety nonsense, endless inductions at your consignor and consignees.
Some young drivers up this way say they’re not getting the support from their employers because they want to go BFM but the employer doesn’t want to because they don’t want the expense and more worryingly, the extra scrutiny of NHVR.
I’m a bit of an AFM specialist now and have been saying that I can help them write some rules so you won’t have to worry about it. Just do your electronic work diary and your pre-trips and use the electronic platforms and it pretty much takes care of itself.
But they just say, oh no, no, no. They don’t want the extra scrutiny. That blew me away.
They’re stitching themselves up as far as I’m concerned.
It gives the drivers an extra two hours’ wriggle room so you don’t have to go like a scalded cat to get from Brisbane to Mackay just to squeeze out the seven or eight hours, or whatever you need.”