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For the duration of Truckweek, Australia’s truck drivers have been asked to ’slow down and be courteous to other road users as part of Truckweek 2010′. They have been asked by ATA Chairman Trevor Martyn to make an extra effort for the sake of the industry’s image with the general public. This is always the request but the general public never seem to notice.

“As professionals, I’m asking our nation’s truck drivers to set the standard on the road. But I’m also urging every motorist to remember that truck drivers want to get home to their families too, but our trucks perform very differently to cars,” says Trevor’s statement, released this week.

For most truckie’s this basically means having to suppress their outrage at the way the general motorist treats them, even more than they usually do. Truckies are, in the main, professionals and do the right thing all the time, but we all have our limits.

You can see it happen all the time out on the highway, a truck will be baulked over and over again by a car driver who is totally unaware of the grief they are creating in their wake. They slow at the wrong time then speed up when they should keep a steady speed, all the time failing to look into the rear view mirror.

Eventually, the truckie will work out a way to get past this idiot or just give up and stop for a break. However, sometimes schedules and pressure from others means the truckie must persist and this is where the problems come, like aggressive driving or risky manoeuvres. This is what Trevor is asking, ‘just hang on a little longer before you lose it altogether’.