All of us in the truck community want to drive and share the road with well-maintained trucks. We all know the risks to ourselves, as well as other road users, if heavy vehicles are not in top shape.
But we also know that inspections aren’t the answer to the problem of truck maintenance getting skipped or delayed — that comes down to the pressures in the industry. No inspection, fine or slap on the wrist is going to change the industry. In fact, it only makes things worse.
The pressures of unrealistic deadlines and to cut costs as there is less money getting passed down the chain, means the risk of maintenance issues and defects are higher.
Police blitzes and inspections keep occurring, but until we have safer, fairer standards, they’re a band-aid solution at best, and part of the problem at worst.
We need to see meaningful change to the industry, so drivers are paid well enough to afford regular maintenance and proper repairs and to be able to take the time to take care of their trucks.
The industry, in its current state, is pushing too many drivers to skip or delay critical work on their trucks. Fines for the defects that inevitably occur only heap more financial pressure on drivers.
Heavy vehicle inspections could have a time and a place, if they were used properly. For example, when a truck defect is found, it should trigger an investigation — or at least for the inspector to hear the driver out — about the reasons for maintenance being skipped or a repair being done on the cheap.
This would give us more information about the pressures in supply chains that are leading to unroadworthy vehicles putting us all in danger and allow those causing the issues to face the repercussions rather than always just the drivers at the end of the chain.
Equally, if lots of similar defects are being found, that data could give us more information about the industry and about issues with trucks, so that those things can be resolved.
The problem with inspections is there’s too much nit-picking and not enough improvements to safety. These blitzes have been going on for years, but truck crash deaths are only increasing. It all just seems like a revenue stream, and it is owner-drivers on tight margins paying the price.
Nothing is as valuable as time, when you’re an owner-driver, on the clock and under the pump.
What I’m worried about is drivers being hit with the double whammy of heavy vehicle inspections and questionable traffic policing. If one doesn’t get you, maybe the other will.
What I mean by this is while police officers are trained in general traffic enforcement and have some minor vehicle knowledge, for instance with regards to tyres and lights, their expertise in the intricacies of heavy vehicle mechanics is often limited. This can lead to defect notices being issued even if they are unsure if a component is defective or not, while actual issues may be missed.
The current process is unfair for the truck driver who would be burdened with the task and cost of having the defect checked and removed, even if it wasn’t defective in the first instance.
As well as being very unfair, this is very frustrating as it also means truck operators have to take time off in order to have the defect notice cleared — and in the trucking game, as we all know, time is money.
None of this is to say we should just allow defective trucks to keep being driven around at 100km an hour day and night. We need safe trucks, and well-rested, trained drivers behind the wheel. But there has to be a better way.
The first step is to address the root cause of maintenance issues by making supply chains more sustainable. We have an upcoming opportunity to finally do this, with laws now allowing applications to be made to the Fair Work Commission to set standards throughout contract chains.
We need to make sure everyone is getting a fair rate that allows for cost recovery and an income on top. Until that is tackled, we will continue in a vicious cycle of inspections, fines, inspections, fines, without the defects actually being taken off the road.
Carefully managed inspections by heavy vehicle experts may then have a role to play, by providing additional checks and raising issues that may be persisting in supply chains.
Inspections should never be about targeting drivers or generating revenue, but about keeping roads safe and understanding what issues are occurring in supply chains so that they can be addressed.
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Frank Black has been a long distance owner-driver for more than 30 years. He is a former long-term owner-driver representative on the ATA Council.