The average car weighs over a tonne and we have a very strict regimen that intending new drivers must meet before they are issued with a driving license - and they are graded through a series of license stages over several years before they can achieve a clear, unconditional driving permit.
We require a learner to spend many hours gaining driving experience under the tuition of a licensed driver and recording that time in a log book. They must learn the rules that apply and satisfy a computer screen questionnaire before they will be road tested by a license examiner and many fail on their first attempt. The system is sufficiently severe that we can be assured that all new drivers have at least an adequate skill in controlling a car on the road and that will develop further as they gather road experience.
It comes as something of a shock to learn that gaining a license to drive a nine tonne truck may be achieved with just one day of driving school tuition. Experienced senior truck drivers are adamant that this is insufficient to master the skills that are necessary to control a heavy vehicle loaded with freight in the mixed conditions drivers will experience on this states roads.
Drivers no longer have to learn how to descend a hill only using gears, which is a legal requirement on many steep slopes. Experienced drivers question the ability of learners to understand a Roadranger gearbox which delivers between nine and eighteen speed variations - in a single day.
The danger is obvious. Newly licensed drivers at the controls of a juggernaut occupying many times the space of a car are let loose on our crowded main highways where the traffic flow is travelling at more than a hundred kilometres per hour. The road freight industry is notorious for unrelenting pressure to maintain often unrealistic delivery schedules and these can only be achieved by speeding and ignoring safety driving time breaks. The outcome is frequent road crashes, often involving other road users. One recent fatality on NSW roads involved a twenty year old driver who had gained his license with just six hours training before the crash.
A nine tonne truck loaded with freight can become a deadly weapon. Even when no injuries occur, trucks taking corners too fast and overturning create traffic jams that last for hours and we have recently experienced high loads bringing down the ceiling in road tunnels and causing traffic delay. An efficient truck driver must know more than just adequate driving skills. Safely moving freight from one place to another involved a knowledgeable of the intended route and its hazards and the limitations of the vehicle being used. The driver also has the responsibility of ensuring that the load is properly secured and that the cargo is safely loaded.
It seems evident that one of the problems relating to the transport industry is attitudinal. In a world where educational skill is sending many to universities because qualification is now essential the task of driving heavy transport is still seen as a semi skilled job. Where all else fails, a person can get a job driving a truck after just a few hours training.
A person behind the wheel of a fully laden nine tonne truck is not dissimilar in the area of responsibility to the pilot of a plane or the person controlling a train. Lack of skill or a momentary mistake can result in the death of a number of people.
It is evident that the approach to heavy vehicle licensing in New South Wales is below an acceptable standard and needs urgent revision. Transport is an essential industry and the people we are permitting to get behind the wheel need to be both trained in the mechanical handling of the vehicle and also in the responsibility that goes with taking one of these big rigs on the road. Attitudinal training is equally important in making transport a safe industry.
No comments:
Post a Comment