Former truckie-turned WA Labor Senator Glenn Sterle has had gutful of hearing stories of drivers being fined for simple spelling mistakes in their work diaries.
A fired-up Sterle used his two minutes in the Senate yesterday to speak on a topic of his choosing to deliver a stinging attack on the current anomalies in the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).
A year earlier he’d raised the same subject in the Senate said he was disappointed to see the same issues still persist amongst the HVNL jurisdictions, particularly when there is such a shortage of transport workers nationwide.
“Truckies are still pursued, fined and prosecuted for simple spelling mistakes in their logbooks, while motorists who break the law and endanger lives face lesser fines,” Sterle told the Senate.
“Fining truck drivers for spelling mistakes does nothing for fatigue management, nor does it drive down the number of accidents and fatalities on our roads, but it does contribute to state and territory revenues.
“It is a national tragedy that states and territories continue to use minor errors made by our hardworking truckies to raise revenue while there is carnage out on our roads.”
Sterle said road safety must be a national priority, and urgent action is needed from all levels of government.
“Issues like training, licensing, enforcement of safety laws must be a priority nationally. “We have a shortage of 26,000 transport workers. This shortage is particularly difficult to address considering these enormous safety challenges, alongside the petty and vindictive targeting of truckies for minor errors in their logbooks.”
He also cited several infringement fine examples to highlight how truckies were being more harshly penalised.
Sterle said that in NSW, motorists who are caught using a mobile phone while driving are fined $362.
In South Australia, driving up to 20km/h over the speed limit attracts a fine of $455.
In Queensland, if a driver fails to give way during a U-turn, they face a fine of $483.
“Truckies that had minor spelling mistakes in their logbook – where they slept last night, for crying out loud – get fined $780.”
Sterle said he’s now written to all state ministers, police, road safety and transport bosses for a second time hoping “some commonsense” will prevail.
“Enforce the law, make our roads safe, [but] stop pinging truck drivers for a damn spelling mistake.”