Owner/Driver #339

an idle chat while barrelling along at ‘X’
kilometres per hour.
WILKIE’S WATCH Ken Wilkie
Bureaucrats’ blessings
Are sweetheart deals becoming the norm in north
Queensland for those seeking B-double access?
SO THE AUSTRALIAN TRUCKING
ASSOCIATION (ATA) claims
its road safety exhibition is
immersive. The phrase ‘selfserving
agenda’ springs to
mind. It’s typical political clap
trap, using flowery language to
overstate an outcome or plan.
So what is so immersive about giving
a selected few but a glimpse of good
road safety practice? If the ATA had
the best interests of all Australian
drivers at heart – both casual and its
own professional ranks – it would be
strongly advocating for all schools to
have the benefit of the education it is
offering to its selected few; but even
more extensive. Any person taking
up the ATA’s invitation can but get a
glimpse of road safety issues.
Sadly, again, the ATA has demonstrated
it is more interested in blowing its own
trumpet than giving concrete support to
those it deems to be its concern; instead
of demanding comprehensive driver
education across the nation.
Australian governments have pledged
that no business will be given economic
advantage over another by actions
undertaken by government. Basically
that is a plank of being a democracy. In
so many ways that ambition is being
cast aside as the not-National Heavy
Vehicle Regulator plays its efficient
transport vehicle games.
Another operator has been granted
permission to run a combination that
is outside the ‘standard’ configuration.
Granted, it is to be used on designated
roads only. And no doubt a hefty fee
has been paid to the state to allow this
personalised combination. Hmm!
I’ve already spoken to a driver of
integrity who worked for a different
organisation in a different area. The
said organisation also had a permit
for personalised outside of standard
combination parameters that was
supposed to stick to prescribed
routes. This driver moved on because
that employer did not, or could not,
ensure its employees stuck to those
designated routes.
Efficient transport vehicles have
been about for decades – it’s just that
they were unable to buy bureaucratic
blessings in the past. I still have a
picture in my mind of a quad axle
drop deck leaving the cement factory
in Rockhampton one evening with
a healthy load of bagged cement on
board. Of course, those were the days
when authorities lacked the means and
resources to see and weigh such things.
In any case, two situations have not
changed and one has – brake drums and
the quality of drivers sharing the road
with trucks.
One thing that has changed is the
ability of transport businesses to attract
competent operators. These sweetheart
arrangements distort the economic
viability of smaller operators. If this
country is to return to international
competitiveness, it needs to reduce the
overheads of all businesses. Not just
those who cosy up to bureaucracy and
curry favours for the chosen business.
The public sector is both meddling to
justify its existence and too much of a
load for the economy to carry.
FILLING DRIVER SEATS
I saw a report of an operator with six
trucks left standing idle because that
operator cannot even attract “dickheads”
these days. And it is a responsible
operation. Where would the national
employment level be if every truck seat
could be filled?
So why aren’t those seats being filled?
I have said it before. In so many ways
this is a mongrel occupation – long
stints from home to start with. And then
there is the bloody minded attitude
of bureaucracy and its friends. It’s
basically a sedentary occupation with
no opportunity to just get up from your
desk and grab a cup of caffeine and have
KEN WILKIE has been an
owner-driver since 1974,
after first getting behind
the wheel at 11. He’s on
his eighth truck, and is a
long-time Owner//Driver
contributor. He covers
Rockhampton to Adelaide
and any point in between.
His current ambition is to
see the world, and to see
more respect for the nation’s
truckies. Contact Ken at
ken@rwstransport.com.au
“It is a dog’s breakfast to
legally get a B-double in or
out of that refuelling point.”
B-DOUBLE ACCESS
Talking about double standards, here’s
some more political hoo-ha. A friend
of mine received a phone call out of
the blue recently. He was conducting
business on Everett Street in the Bohle
area of Townsville. It was one of those
secret phone numbers – owner not
traceable. But the caller claimed to be
from Queensland Transport and advised
my friend that if he was going to operate
his B-double on Everett Street, he would
be breached. He was on private property
at the time.
When friend pointed out there were
several B-doubles operating in the
same street, anonymous caller claimed
that those operators had a permit to
do so. Oh, and don’t take the matter up
with Queensland Transport. That’s a
National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR)
responsibility!
Whatever happened to the practice that
once a thoroughfare was approved for
B-double operation it was approved for
all operators? Only bureaucracy would
expect a single self-employed operator
doing a single load operation to go
through all the hoops to obtain a permit.
The process to even establish whether
a road is a B-double route is as clear
as mud. And if the said permit is not
approved, does the job go to an ‘approved’
operator? And the nearby street, Webb
Drive, is a balls-up of 25-metre B-doubles
(I didn’t think a 25m was even a
nominated entity any more) but not 26.
What sort of crap is going on here? Is
this a situation like what happened in
Mackay? The council approved a building
complex to service and maintain massive
earthmoving equipment but refused to
allow the operation of oversize transport
to move the stuff in or out. The NHVR
was apparently powerless to make
the big frogs in little puddles see the
stupidity of their attitude. It took the
common sense of a private operator to be
able to succinctly point out the illogical
stupid nature of the decision.
Again, the same town allowed the
setting up of a heavy vehicle refuelling
point but did not allow B-double access.
Even now it is a dog’s breakfast to legally
get a B-double in or out of it.
So what attracts the energy of grass
roots associations? Getting extra length
allowed for B-doubles to allow for
bonnets and a big bunk? Don’t consider
the vast number of countries that run
primarily cab-over outfits. Never mind
taking the bureaucracy to task for
failing to deliver the outcomes it was
established to deliver – one nation, one
regulation. Never mind demanding
a level playing field on registrations.
Never mind the restrictive access for
eastern states hauliers to Western
Australia. Never mind the adoption
of a sensible system of time spent
driving regulations instead of the
immoral unjust regulations now driving
experienced people from the industry –
and a massive disincentive to attracting
younger people to the industry.
We have to get our priorities right. It
is little wonder that this nation is not
competitive internationally.
My required reading this month: The
Fight for Australia by Roland Perry.
ownerdriver.com.au
APRIL 2021 53