It was disappointing to read in The Border Mail of January 9 (Truck safety is every road user’s problem) that the chair of the Australian Trucking Association, the peak representative body of the Australian Road Transport Industry, deny any link to the remuneration of truck drivers and truck subcontractors to the increase in truck-related fatalities in NSW in 2017.
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Geoff Crouch correctly points out that many accidents are caused by the actions of other parties and these cannot be prevented by improving remuneration. However his assertion that the industry is doing its part by having a state of the art road safety exhibition, the Safety Truck filled with displays, is a sad indictment on how out of touch with reality the ATA and its associate bodies are.
While the Safety Truck is probably a wonderful asset at a children's fair it does little to address situations where the Transport Industry allows an overly zealous media to portray it negatively by its own actions.The capital city “shock jocks” and current affairs television programs are only too happy to crucify our industry whenever a poorly trained and inexperienced operator causes traffic chaos.
The ATA and its associate members all recognise that they have a huge problem with an ageing work force and a failure to attract quality candidates to our driver ranks. Little wonder when their only solution is to support more draconian laws to be implemented under the Chain of Responsibility legislation in 2018.
Most people would be shocked if they knew how little formal training many drivers of heavy vehicles have actually undertaken. The best operators come from the ranks of those who have a family or other background in the industry. The opportunity to learn firsthand from those experienced in the industry is invaluable but with current OH&S legislation preventing access to many sites, the opportunity to learn from experience is very restricted in the current environment.
The fact is that most employers in the road transport industry put very little effort into driver training and succession and the Saturday morning poaching exercise, masquerading as positions vacant in The Border Mail is proof enough of this.
If the transport industry expects its commitment to safety to be taken seriously then a formal training and qualification regime is essential and hopefully people of quality will be attracted to our industry. The only problem is Geoff, this comes at a cost that currently the industry can't afford. And so we start the whole circle again with the argument about viability and remuneration.
Chris Roe, Yarrawonga
Seeking your help
The Cobram Barooga RSL sub-branch is seeking assistance from Border Mail readers.
The original war memorial in Cobram was an avenue of trees, each marked with a plaque bearing the name of a young man from our district who made the supreme sacrifice during World War II. This was made possible through the generosity of Mr H D Hay, reported as being from Langi Oonah.
These plaques have been relocated to a new memorial in Cobram and it is the plan to re-dedicate the memorial on March 24. We are looking for relatives or descendants of Mr H D Hay. If anyone can provide details please contact Glenda Mann on 0407 040 208, or email cobrambarooga.rsl@gmail.com. Any assistance provided by your readers in sharing this request would also be greatly appreciated.
