On bright sunny days in remote Western Australia, Lynette Newbey carts ammonium nitrate with her headlights turned on.
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Lynette Newbey drives a Volvo FH16 on the Great Eastern and Great Northern Highways, WA
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Lynette Newbey remains grateful to the ‘old-school’ truckies who showed her the ropes when she started working at Keune Transport about 20 years ago.
“I learned a lot. I did a lot. Oversize. Over width. We did general freight. We did [dangerous goods]. We did everything and [Andre Keune] was a fantastic boss.”
Based in Perth, Western Australia, Lynette has worked for several companies since then, and has spent most of her trucking career carting dangerous goods. Today she drives a Volvo FH16 with two or three trailers, carting ammonium nitrate to mines in remote WA.
Working a 12-day fortnight, she travels from Perth to Kalgoorlie and Port Hedland, sleeping in the Volvo up to eight nights each fortnight.
Those old-school mentors taught Lynette well, and she has an enviable safety record. But she says one of her most valued safety tips came from her late father, Norman Newbey, who taught her to drive a car. Norman instructed Lynette to always drive with her headlights turned on, even on bright sunny days. “It’s something that he always did, and I’ve always done it,” Lynette says.
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Lynette Newbey is bound for Kalgoorlie with a load of ammonium nitrate.
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Always. Even when she’s pulling three trailers.
Lynette says vehicles of all sizes – even road trains – are more visible with their headlights turned on in the day time. That’s why she launched the ‘Let’s Turn ‘em on 24/7’ campaign back in 2002.
“I can’t help but feel proud. A lot more cars now come out with automatic headlights but I do certainly believe that a lot more people now have their lights on than what they did before I launched this campaign 20 odd years ago.”
Her website headlightson247.com is still live, and she still wants you to drive with your headlights on, day and night. “Be seen. Be safe. Headlights on 24/7,” Lynette says.
Read the full story in the June 2019 issue of Owner//Driver.