http://www.smh.com.au/national/truckies-pushed-into-danger-zone-20100108-lyvd.html
Truckies pushed into danger zone
ANDREW WEST
January 9, 2010
IT IS a statistic that will alarm police and governments dealing with a string of fatal road accidents: almost two-thirds of long-haul truck drivers interviewed for a national study say their employers pressure them into using unsafe work practices.
The study, involving more than 200 participants around the country, also found 44 per cent of drivers had been pushed into breaking the laws governing long-haul trucking, while 44 per cent also felt pressure to drive excessive hours.
The study - which comes after a series of fatal accidents over Christmas and the new year, some involving trucks - was commissioned by the Transport Workers Union and will be presented to the Safe Rates Advisory Group. The advisory group was established last month by the federal Workplace Minister, Julia Gillard, to advise the Rudd Government on pay rates in the trucking industry.
Truck drivers argue that they alone are not responsible for the death toll on the roads, which last year reached 459, up from 374 in 2008. The Federal Department of Transport also found that, in the 12 months to March last year, 228 people had died from crashes involving articulated or heavy rigid trucks.
''You have to deal with the pressure drivers, including owner-drivers, are getting from clients in the industry,'' the union's acting national secretary, Michael Kaine, told the Herald. ''Right now we have these tragic accidents involving families and it is accentuated at this [holiday] time of the year, but this is a permanent crisis in the industry.''
Under the law, drivers are not supposed to drive for more than a 12 hour-shift, unless they have completed fatigue-management training, which allows for 14-hour shifts. Drivers must take a substantial break after five hours and must have a 10-hour break between shifts.
In announcing the advisory group, which comprises union, employer and business representatives, Ms Gillard said: ''Australia's truck drivers work hard and they shouldn't have to risk dying or being injured just to make a living. This is why rates of pay, conditions and methods of payment in the transport industry must not be allowed to encourage drivers to speed, overload their trucks, drive excessive hours or skimp on vehicle maintenance.''
The study found that 56 per cent of owner-drivers were forced to lower the maintenance standards on their trucks because they could not afford to service them on the rates they were paid as subcontractors.
''We need to make the clients responsible for proper rates and conditions,'' said Mr Kaine, ''so motorists know that when a truck is approaching them, the driver is
well rested.''
He said the key to changing the culture of long-haul trucking, and improving safety, was to ''address the massive economic power'' of three major companies - Coles, Woolworths and Metcash - which together control 34 per cent of the transport market and set rates, and often schedules, for truckies.
Neil Chambers, the deputy chief executive of the Victorian Transport Association, an employer organisation also represented on the Safe Rates Advisory Group, said trucking companies also wanted better conditions for drivers.
''Certainly there is government advice from experts that makes the link between [pay] rates and safety,'' he said.
One
Sydney truckie who participated in the study, Walter, who asked not be identified for fear of being black-banned in the industry, said 18-hour days were common, and the 12-hour shift rule was ignored because drivers had to factor in two hours of loading time at either end of the journey.
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I am not saying it is the truckies fault but there are real problems in the whole trucking industry that need to be addressed.
Far pay and working conditions would be a start, if large companies could not screw individual truck owners on price then perhaps it would become economic to transport goods by rail rather than by road.