The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has released its new plan to change truck driver licensing, which it says should ‘increase safety and encourage more people to join the industry’.
It was developed as a part of the Workforce and Driver Training Summit, which was held this past June. ATA chair Mark Parry says it found that the current licensing arrangements are inadequate for the industry.
“The problems became apparent to all in February 2016, when the crew of a B-double proved unable to reverse their overheight truck out of the entrance to a Sydney tunnel,” he says.
“The association of government transport agencies, Austroads, has done an extended review of driver licensing, but governments now need to act.
“Many driving training organisations do a great job. Others train to a price or a time. Driver trainers must be assessed more rigorously, by experienced auditors who understand driver training and competencies.
“There should be minimum behind the wheel training times, with the driver training experts at our summit proposing longer training times for discussion than the ones put forward by Austroads.
“At present, truck drivers progress through the licensing classes on a time basis. For example, once you have a medium or heavy rigid truck licence, you must wait a year before you can get a heavy combination (HC) licence.
“You are not required to use your licence and build up your driving skills and experience.
“Austroads has proposed that drivers should also be able to advance through the licence classes based on their driving hours, with accelerated progression for drivers who are supervised. There would still be training and assessment requirements.
“We support these new pathways, but the existing time based option should be removed. There is no connection between the passage of time and driving skill.”
Parry and the ATA believe the current medium combination class should be split in two to be a more accurate representation of the skills required to drive vehicles like triple road trains, quads and quins.
They are also pushing for driver medicals to be conducted as a part of the licensing process.
“Our summit participants told us about job applicants who had gone to the time and effort of getting a licence and then being offered a job, only to discover during their employer induction that they did not meet the driver medical standards,” Parry says.
“Truck driving is highly skilled, but the issues with the licensing system mean that many drivers end up having to learn critical safety skills and attitudes on the job.
“Many people who might consider a driving job can’t see a connection between getting a licence and having the skills to work safely and confidently in the industry.
“Strengthening driver licensing is a vital step toward encouraging more people with a safety-first attitude to join the industry.”
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