Owner/Driver #339

EYES ON THE ROAD Rod Hannifey
Driving the message
The brand-new TruckRight Industry Vehicle will be
hitting the highways within months
BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, I will
have stepped out of the current
TruckRight Industry Vehicle (TIV)
– number 2 – after nine years
and nine months. The truck and
trailers will continue on in the Rod
Pilon Transport (RPT) fleet with a
few minor changes, removing the TIV and
TruckRight bits with a new driver. I hope it will
continue to spread the message as it has done
thus far.
I am having shoulder surgery and this
will mean six weeks in a sling and six weeks
minimum for recovery but hope to then step
into a new, and likely last, TIV.
I have been working on this for years now
and only really got it started in December
last year and with delusions of how it might
come together. I even hoped to have it at the
Brisbane Truck Show but the timing for the
truck, trailers and other incidentals mean that
will simply not be possible.
The current trailers will be 13-years-old
in October and have performed well. The
curtains were replaced when the K200 arrived
and so they are coming up on 10 years old.
They are looking a bit tired but still do the job
they were originally intended to do, and that
is show another face of the road transport
industry to the public.
We have some magnificent-looking rigs on
the road but until I designed the first curtains,
which now adorn another set of RPT trailers
(thank you RPT yet again), there was almost
nothing that promoted us as such.
Yes, there are curtains that promote
customers, tractors, vineyards, dog food and
the like, even those that promote the transport
company itself, but even now, outside a few
with ‘this vehicle takes 60m to stop’ signs and
the ‘if you can’t see the driver, he can’t see
you signs’, there is still very little to promote
us. I would love to see Toll, Linfox and others
do something similar. They certainly have
the capacity to do so, yet that is one of the
reasons I left Toll nearly 14 years ago. I had
approached management and asked them to
do something like the TIV, but at the time was
told: “We can’t afford it.”
Toll has got recently involved with the Amy
Gillett Foundation about cyclists; Linfox has
signs seeking drivers on the back, but for
such large companies they have done little to
promote the road transport industry in this
obviously very visual and in-your-face field of
marketing.
Even in the USA, where there is a campaign
called ‘Trucking Moves America Forward’
that raised $1 million and then wrapped 100
trailers with its message, there’s little else.
There is certainly nothing like the TIV. Any of
you who watch Trucking In America will know
they have many tribute trucks to the armed
forces and even 9/11 and, of course, their truck
show trucks, which are far beyond many of
our wildest dreams in terms of customisation.
HELPING HANDS
I have a lot of people to thank for the first two
TIVs, starting with Ken Wilkie for loaning me
his K104 to get me going. Then Rod Pilon for
buying me the trailers and ongoing support,
most of the staff of RPT over the years in one
way or another, and all who have contributed
product, many with ongoing support for their
products.
Roger Sack at Tramanco, with his on-board
scales, has been behind me from the start. I
also thank Michelin, Kenworth and Inland
Truck Centres, Icepack Services, Cummins and
Jost (first TIV), Narva, Attards for both sets of
curtains, Shell, BPW for the electronic brake
ROD HANNIFEY, a transport
safety advocate, has been
involved in raising the
profile of the industry,
conducting highway truck
audits, the Blue Reflector
Trial for informal parking
bays on the Newell, the
‘Truckies on Road Code’, the
national 1800 number for
road repairs proposal, and
the Better Roadside Rest
Areas Group. Contact Rod
on 0428 120 560, e-mail
rod.hannifey@bigpond.
com or visit
www.truckright.com.au
BELOW (L TO R): The first TIV
shortly before it was handed
back to Ken Wilkie; The
second TIV in Brisbane, back
from Melbourne after being
adorned with pin striping
and on-board scales
BOTTOM: The current
and outgoing TIV with its
evergreen trailers
“For such large companies they
have done little to promote the
road transport industry.”
system, Air CTI, GME for radios, Transcom for
individual mudflaps and spray suppression,
3M for conspicuity tapes and clear coat
for the front of the TIV and bullbar, Herd
Bull Bars, Groeneveld for auto greasers,
Mobileye, Transtech, Truckbling, King of the
Road Truckwash and Fisher Park Truckstop,
Truckers Bed, Alcoa (first TIV), Rimex Metals
for the tank skirts and inside cupboard doors,
and Valor for the tyre pressure monitoring
system.
Then there are all the transport companies
who provided photos for the two curtain sets:
the aim was to cover from a rigid to a fivetrailer
roadtrain and all the different sectors,
from general to tippers, tankers, livestock,
heavy haulage and local.
Nolans, Baxters, EA Rocke, Holcim, Boral,
RPT, BIS, Camerons, Kerbys Orange, North Coast
Towing, Inland Petroleum Dubbo, Lampsons
and Stockmaster all contributed photos and
towards the cost of the curtains. Help from the
NHVR, NTC, NRFA, LBRCA, VTA, TCA, NTI, John
Morris/NTI and NRMA and of course, Owner//
Driver, ATN and Deals on Wheels magazines in
one form or another, taking trips and offering
support for initiatives, and so on. Most kept
with me for four years, some more, but here
we are at nine-plus and finally a new plan.
MENTAL HEALTH
Now I am doing it all again, hoping to have
a few surprises and additions, trying to pull
it all together while working full- time and
seeking support part-time, along with the rest
of the bits and pieces I am involved with.
I said last month about the current issues
on the road, such as lack of facilities, abuse by
many if not most of those we deal with one
way or another, from ridiculous penalties for
mistakes (nothing whatsoever to do with road
safety, just simply revenue raising) to lack of
parking, toilets and access to good food. So
it’s no wonder we are struggling to get people
into the industry.
Simply look at the toll in mental health we
all thought was there for many and it’s now
documented and in the eyes of all from recent
surveys. I fear it is getting worse in more ways
than it is getting better. I truly believe my
efforts with all this and other activities has
helped keep me sane and mostly keen to keep
trying.
ownerdriver.com.au
APRIL 2021 51