Sharing the road

A mile in my shoes

As I've mentioned before, my dream of having a truck on the road that demonstrates to the public how roads impact on trucks is making progress. I've picked up the new B-double trailers from Vawdrey in Melbourne. Many of my colleagues are confident that it will encourage people to come for a ride and get positive messages out about the road transport industry. Once a few minor adjustments and improvements are completed on the truck, I will add some photos.

HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE
Two weeks prior to this, Dr Brendan Nelson, who was at the time the leader of the federal Opposition, was the fifth person to ride in the truck. He travelled with me from Melbourne to Dubbo on a pleasant and sunny Saturday. While it was not a busy ‘truck day' on the highway, or the peak truck time at night, it did allow us the time and visibility to see the road faults, feel them and look at a number of rest areas. We discussed the current shortage of these areas nationally and the impact of the new fatigue regulations, which were due to come out in September and are now in effect.

We had a short press chat at the Rod Pilon depot in Laverton, Vic, and then did a lap with the journalists in the sleeper part of the cabin. Dr Nelson had never ridden in a B-double before, and while some were cynical of his motives for doing the trip, I can only thank him for taking the time to understand our concerns about our roads, lack of rest areas, etc., and do it properly.

In discussions with his advancer, it was agreed that an hour or so in the truck would only serve as a token exercise and fail to impart an understanding of the issues. In a normal day, Dr Nelson and his parliamentary colleagues address upwards of 20 issues and devote only a short time to each, so a day in the truck gave us time to properly analyse the problems and discuss possible solutions.

ATTRACTING ATTENTION
We stopped at two rest areas on the Hume Highway and had a press conference at Albury, NSW, where Dr Nelson was asked about the leadership. He initially focused on trucking issues and raised many of the points we had discussed, but then answered a few other questions. We travelled on to the Ben Hall Roadhouse at Forbes to a warm and passionate welcome from local supporters who'd heard of Dr Nelson's trip and wanted to say g'day and shake his hand. We had a nice dinner of rissoles, salad and chips, which was mentioned on Macca's Australia All Over on Sunday morning and caused a bit of a stir. Carmel at the Ben Hall tells me rissole sales have since soared; indeed, I recommend them to you all.

We arrived in Dubbo about 10pm and Dr Nelson slept in the top of the two bunks, which are often used in trucks that travel long distances to places such as Perth or Darwin. The truck has been set up with these double bunks to allow for times when a passenger may have to sleep in the truck. I will not set up such events deliberately, but with the logbook laws and penalties and fines, there are likely to be times when these events must be catered for.

Another press conference was held at the Rod Pilon yard in Dubbo before Dr Nelson caught a plane back to Canberra for parliament, due to start on the next day.

At the press conference, Dr Nelson answered questions on what was learnt from the experience and then again about the leadership. When asked who else should take the trip, Brendan replied that everyone from the prime minister to the RTA and state and council representatives should do it, and learn something that they would unlikely learn any other way.

MEDIA SUCCESS
Following Dr Nelson's trip in the truck, I did five radio interviews on the Monday and a couple more after that. The exercise was seen by many of my colleagues as positive for the industry, and raised issues which we at times struggle to get into the media. I was disappointed that Dr Nelson lost the leadership. Perhaps he was too nice a bloke.

I would like to thank Dr Brendan Nelson for coming along for the trip and for making the time available. I wish him all the best for the future, and who knows, he may yet be a future prime minister. Thanks to David Whyte of the publication Owner Driver for the photos.