The dramatically named "Operation Rolling Thunder" was the latest knee jerk reaction to a string of fatal accidents which involved a heavy vehicle.
As usual the media were on board, emotively calling for “rogue operators” and “cowboy truckies” to be taken off the road.
Assistant Police Commissioner Michael Corboy said: “This operation is in direct response to three fatal truck crashes in the course of two days earlier this year that cost the lives of five people.”
“We simply cannot stand by and accept that dangerous trucks are on our roads and are causing people to die.
“NSW carries the bulk of the nation’s freight and we need to ensure that all of the trucks coming and going from the state are safe and compliant, and that truck drivers are not driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“Today’s operation will test the entire heavy-vehicle industry in NSW and across other states.
“We will review results from the operation and stop any trucks, drivers, owners or operators who can’t comply with safety standards and road rules, to ensure all dangerous trucks are removed from our roads.”
As usual the media were looking for a headline and the general public were baying for blood.
The RMS, NSW Police and other interstate agencies took to the task with extreme vigour.
Once again the transport industry, the job I love, my mates and I were copping an absolute hiding in mainstream media and I had had enough.
I found the crash statistics for NSW for fatal accidents between 2012-2016 and started reading.
What I found did not come as a surprise to me at all. I sat down, worked out a few percentages, put this into a Facebook post and sent it to a couple of friends, unsure whether I should post it.
They encouraged me to do so and what happened next left me stunned. Over 1,000 shares in 24 hours, messages from people all over Australia I had never met thanking me for telling the transport industry’s side of the story and getting the facts out to the general public. These numbers from the original Facebook post are included below.
Heavy vehicle traffic accounts for 7% of all traffic movements in NSW Between 2012-2016. In NSW there were 1,619 fatal accidents on our roads, 260 or 17% of these involved trucks.
That is 83% of the road toll that doesn’t even involve a heavy vehicle. Of that 17% or 260 accidents that involved a heavy vehicle, 80% of the time the heavy vehicle WAS NOT AT FAULT.
That means that 208 of these accidents were the result of the car driver being at fault! Therefore in NSW in that 4 year period, 1,567 out of 1,619 fatal accidents were not the fault of a heavy vehicle.
The end results, 96.7% of all fatal crashes in a 4 year period were not the fault of a heavy vehicle or its operator.
Only 3.3% of the road toll can be attributed to heavy vehicle at fault accidents in a 4-year period.
All of a sudden when you break it down the stats don’t look so bad for an industry that has such poor public perception and a bad rap in mainstream media.
During the operation, police from all states and RMS inspectors combined stopped and inspected more than 5,000 heavy vehicles.
More than 2,000 defect notices for a range of offences were issued, with 26 drivers returning positive drug tests.
A total of 1,752 drivers were tested for drugs and the result was then labelled disgraceful by the Commander of NSW Police Traffic & Highway Patrol.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said: “The fact that we caught 26 drivers who tested positive for drugs is just a disgrace”.
Really? A disgrace? While I agree that having any driver test positive for drugs behind the wheel of a heavy vehicle is completely unacceptable, 26 out of 1,752 or 1.48% can hardly be described as a disgrace.
In fact, 98.52% of drivers returned a negative result for a drug test; far from a disgrace, I think this is a great result for the industry.
As for the defect notices, 2,000 defects from 6,600 vehicles stopped between the Police and RMS doesn’t sound great, but neither did the “disgraceful” drug test results until we looked a bit closer did they?
How many actual vehicles were defected out of the 6600? I’d like to bet that those 2,000 defects weren’t all for separate vehicles.
There were 33 major defects where the vehicle was grounded on the spot for a serious safety issue. That’s 33 out of 6,600, or 0.5% of all vehicles stopped.
By the Government’s own admission 99.95% of vehicles they stopped did not have any major safety issue!
How many of these remaining defects were for faded warning labels, cracked or missing reflectors, empty windscreen washer bottles or faded number plates etc.?
How many of these defects are really genuine issues with a vehicle that affects its safety and how many are just making up the numbers?
It’s time the mainstream media didn’t just spit out the politically motivated propaganda they’re fed at press conferences by the heads of these government agencies and reported real facts with real research.
It’s also time that the government looked at their own facts and figures regarding the road toll and took action where it is most needed, where the majority accidents are caused, light vehicles.
Ask yourself why if they are so serious about safety they target the group of road users we have statistically proven, using the government’s own data, to be the safest on the road.
Is it a politically motivated move to alienate a minority group? A group, which only represents 7% of vehicle movements annually in NSW.
Is it to try and appear to the other 93% of road users that they are taking proactive and worthwhile action against the road toll thereby encouraging the public to vote for them again next election?
Or is it a revenue raising exercise, one that they know the 93% of road users who are not heavy vehicle operators will support because they’re doing it all in the name of “safety”?
I don’t know, but maybe, with a bit of effort and a united front the industry can show the general public we aren’t as bad as some people would like them to believe.
Public perception is where we need to start if we want industry reform. If we can get the support of the public by showing them statistics like this in an intelligent and well-reasoned manner and present our side of the story in a way that is articulate and professional then maybe, just maybe we can manage to affect some meaningful change in our industry and make a contribution that will have some long term benefits.
Chris Campbell, NSW