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OPINION: Revenue on a plate

The NSW RMS is raking it in by deeming trucks with “unreadable” number plates to be unregistered

 

Required reading for this month – Sandakan by Paul Ham. We’ll double up this month; also try The Hell Series by Laurie Woods, DFC. There are four books in the series. I’m suggesting this material in an attempt to educate citizens on the generosity of spirit – on the determined confrontation of personal danger in the pursuit of freedom for our society by many of our forebears.

It’s an indication to how far we’ve slipped towards the “stuff you jack” precipice! Just the bloody opposite of the extreme generosity of spirit demonstrated in the works depicted by the books mentioned previously.

New South Wales Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) would have to go close to getting the biggest mongrel award for the entire nation. An inability of the RMS’s camera surveillance of heavy vehicles to read number plates on some trucks has brought about what is a pretty typical over the top response from RMS. Under such situations, RMS has gone straight to the killer response – operators of trucks whose number plates have not been readable are getting in the mail a massive fine, around $1,400, and in addition a penalty point deduction of four.

Because the camera has failed to “see” the plate, RMS has deemed the vehicle to be not registered. It has been reported to me that an operator travelling from Melbourne to Sydney was breached twice in 40 minutes, once at Marulan and a second just 40 minutes later. He found out about the breaches when he received the notice in the post. Now if it is possible to identify the owner sufficiently to direct the notification to him or her, then it must be a simple search to reveal the registration status of the vehicle.

This issue was revealed to me some months ago, but a report attributed to Gary Mahon of Queensland Trucking Association seemed to imply that the situation had been addressed to some degree of satisfaction. But apparently that was a consideration only available to Queensland operators owing to Queensland’s more responsible attitude to damaged plates.

In relation to the operator who was breached twice in 40 minutes towards the end of the journey, why was the damaged plate not an issue prior to Marulan? Had the driver had the misfortune to strike a ‘skippy’ that caused the problem? Had that been the case, it would be a reasonable assumption that the operator has found the damage at the end of the trip and repaired it. How many cameras had the truck passed under since the second “fail to detect” and the receipt of the demand? Which raises the question, is the technology foolproof?

 

Technology’s downside

How many people have lost their lives recently in airline crashes owing to incompetent technology? Talk to my mate who invested in the latest technology in trucks just a few years ago. The magic gear change called AutoShift was part of the package. The company explains that it is going down the AutoShift road to maximise fuel savings. It takes a bloody lot of fuel savings to overcome his costs.

For a start, it neutralised in roadworks on a major roadway just to the north of Brisbane. He had to convince a tow operator to brave the traffic to hook up. Workplace health and safety considerations? Oh, and a thousand bucks for the tow.

Then there was the expectation of several hundred dollars to have the supplier attend to put a reader on the thing to determine whether it was the ’box or technology. Well, it was technology but was it the computer or a selector sender or a mother board? Anyway, the answer was to replace the whole lot for something plus $11,000. What about the brand new truck? It broke down on its first drive to the depot. Two weeks later after much swapping of this component and that, the service staff was pretty confident the issue was solved. They became more confident when another truck that had some of the exchanged components fitted also developed the same malaise. They couldn’t detect the issue – just grope around in the dark until something works.

Talk to the operator who has just traded a computer nightmare on a new jigger. The old one had cost his business something like $60,000 up to its 1.2 million kilometre mark. No issue with mechanicals but heaps with technology. But at 1.2 million km, the mechanicals must be getting near to needing attention. So now there’s a new one on the scene. Hope he has better luck this time. And these are three different brands.

Ah, technology and bureaucracy’s infatuation with it. They might have a more reflective attitude if the cost of technology’s failure was deducted from their profit margin. Or they might be less likely to go down the holier than thou route if their own mistakes were highlighted.

Industry management is still rabbiting on about the inability of transport to attract new players. A bit of attention to decency – and demands to bureaucracy for bureaucracy to be decent – might help. It’s pretty basic really. It is an adult version of bullying in schools that is a major disincentive to new entrants.

 

Ask the truckies

So we’re having a review of National Heavy Vehicle Law (NHVL). Yes, I know I’m a cracked record. Any review of regulations must logically follow, not precede, an unbiased study of heavy accidents to determine the cause and effect. Unless we go that way, we are again following presumptions and or assumptions; or worse still ulterior motives to determine outcomes.

It appears that there are many proposals that seem to involve throwing out the baby with the bathwater. How many pages does it take to cover the current rubbish? Anyway, just start from page one after we’ve done the study to know what is warranted and what’s rubbish. There needs to be a good percentage of operators reviewing NHVL; and I don’t include the Tolls and Linfoxes when talking of operators. I mean some of the real truckies who know how to drive and load and know how to respond to the myriad of challenges that is real trucking.

The last thing needed is another out of control bureaucracy. How many staff made up the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator when it started; what, five or so years ago? I’m told it is now into hundreds and what sort of national harmonisation has it achieved? Are we particularly concerned? Going by the folly of condoning the Western Australia and South Australia border crossing, it doesn’t appear that there is any great determination anywhere to ensure free trade between states.

I see performance based standards more as further reducing harmonisation rather than being a plus. The whole bloody nation could do with some efficiency not just a few preferred sections.

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