Why the struggle to find truckies will only get worse, warns operator

Burpengary-based operator Michael Mahon fears that unless the Bruce black spots are fixed, operators’ on-going battle to find drivers will only get tougher.

The director of MJ Mahon Transport, specialists in refrigerated transport, sends between 15-20 trucks north on the Bruce every day.

His drivers were all first on the scene at each of the three truck crashes that occurred in a nightmare week on the Bruce last month that also claimed two lives and shut the highway down for an unprecedented five days.

“We’re going to get to the stage where drivers are just not going to want to drive on the Bruce Highway,” said Mahon, the president of the Queensland Trucking Association.

“We’re going to get truck drivers who are going to say, ‘I don’t want to travel north, I just want to travel south. I can sit on the M1 and listen to my podcast and have my cruise control’.

“I think all of a sudden, the transport companies based here and in North Queensland, we’re going to get to the stage where drivers are going to say, ‘You’re going up the Bruce? No, that’s not for me’, and we’re going to have a shortage of drivers, which then impacts on costs, and so on.”

“That’s my longer-term concern.”

Adding to Mahon’s frustration over the current dangers on the Bruce, is that there doesn’t appear to be any plan to fix them.

“So, we can’t go to our driver group and go, ‘Hey guys, this is the plan, and this is how we’re fixing it, and this is what it’s going to look like in the future.

“There’s all this growth in all these cities but no one is actually laying the road infrastructure out to service it.”

Mahon said the Bruce, widely derided now as ‘the goat track’ among many in the industry, is just not up to the level it needs to be.

“When you look at your class one highways in NSW and Victoria, multi-lane for the entire distance. I understand that Queensland’s double the distance, but we’ve really only got a class 1 highway until Gympie.”

Mahon says it’s hard to pinpoint one area on the Bruce over another that he’d prioritise for immediate attention, there are just so many trouble spots.

He cited the sections around Maryborough as “notorious”, near the recent accident sites, south of Benaraby, Miriam Vale, Gin Gin, and also the stretch between Mackay and Townsville.

His business at present doesn’t service north of Townsville, but recent feedback he got from operators who do, described the Bruce between Townsville and Cairns as “horrendous”.

As we were going to print with this issue, Mahon was relieved to hear that at least the closed section of the Bruce near the blast site south of Gladstone was finally reopening, albeit partially.

After the first incident major incident at Gindoran in which low visibility from fog and smoke contributed to a multi-vehicle crash that claimed the life of a 29-year-old truckie, Mahon temporarily grounded his entire fleet for the first time in nearly 25 years of operation.

He was full of praise for the patience and skills of all drivers forced to take the resulting detours and cope with the increased traffic.

Mahon reserved a special mention for his staff drivers who rushed to the aid of those trapped in the wrecks without a moment’s thought for their own safety.

“They’re racing into scenes with DG, in both cases, to help fellow truck drivers, and cars as well,” said Mahon, who is planning a special commendation in acknowledgment.

“They’re just straight in there with fire extinguishers trying to save their brothers, the truck drivers who are out there with them every day and night, and other road users – they’re heroic efforts.

“I think as an industry, and society, we do need to recognise these guys and support them.

“Support them in terms of what they’ve seen and had to deal with, and longer term, we need to recognise their efforts and say, ‘You know what, you guys went above and beyond’.

“I’m proud of them.”