A sergeant from Victoria Police has said there is a major lack of understanding around electronic work diaries (EWDs) amongst truck drivers.
Speaking at the Australian Trucking Association’s annual Technology and Maintenance Conference at the Kangan Institute in Melbourne recently, Sergeant Robert Mitchell, the supervisor of the Heavy Vehicle Unit, said he’s noticed an increase in uptake of EWDs.
He thinks this is a good thing – but much more training is needed.
“The NHVR thinks EWDs are the way of the future and written work diaries won’t be here forever,” Sgt Mitchell said.
“But a really common thing in dealing with drivers is that they have no training or understanding of the EWD.
“The amount of times that we get an EWD handed over and the response from the driver is ‘Oh my boss just told me to give it to the coppers, they’ll know what to do’.
“Drivers are being kept on the side of the road and we’re spending our time trying to figure out how something works.”
Mitchell said that when EWDs were first launched, there were only a handful of service providers.
“Now I think we’re up to 14 or 15, and that’s only going to get bigger,” he said.
“The instructions and how to operate those platforms, seemingly it all varies.
“With a written work diary, there are pages of instructions and it will walk you through. You’ve got a hard copy of what you have to do.
“EWDs are not as straightforward.”
Mitchell was speaking as part of the TMC’s signature session, the Technical Q&A, alongside Chris Blanchard from transport company Herb Blanchard Haulage in Grafton, NSW.
Brett Patterson, Peter Austin and Toby Merryfull from the NHVR made up the rest of the panel.
Blanchard, who is a mechanic by trade and manages 45 trucks and trailers at Herb Blanchard Haulage, said some of the company’s drivers have been slow to embrace the EWD.
“We still have some pushback from drivers who don’t want change, but those who have changed won’t go back,” he said.
“There’s been some teething issues with EWDs.”
He mentioned a recent incident in which one of his drivers was stopped by highway patrol but the police struggled to make sense of the EWD.
“Victoria has a trained police side that specialises in heavy vehicles,” he said.
“Police forces in some of the other states haven’t had that specific heavy vehicle training.
“I know police are struggling with EWDs on the side of the road in NSW. I don’t know if Queensland or SA are finding the same.
“It is very painful when new technology comes in and we’re having enforcement issues.”
Brett Patterson, who is the director of the Central Region at the NHVR, said he’s been happy to see more operators using EWDs.
“Some of the operators that embrace the EWD, it’s working for them in their business and the drivers are well aware of it,” he said.
“They are well informed, and the intercepts are quite efficient. There’s a high compliance rate.”
He pointed out that in NSW over the past year, NHVR officers have spent over 7000 hours undertaking “one-on-one education” of drivers at inspection stations and during on-road intercepts.
“There’s quite a few pages in the front of the work diary that tell you how to complete it, but everyone has different learning styles, so we really embrace that,” he added.
Patterson said the NHVR also provides training to police officers that are pulling over heavy vehicles.
“Our trainers go out and spend the day with the highway patrol, especially in NSW, to talk to them about the law.
“Whether it’s mechanical roadworthiness or how to read a work diary and whether it’s compliant or not.
“I think that’s going to grow over the next couple of years when we look at regulatory partners’ training, whether it’s all the different entities that are regulating heavy vehicles.”