Checking the entries in the work diary shows it has been 466 days since the NTC promised to review the Basic Fatigue Management scheme. Another entry tells us it had been 117 days since the NTC informed us the result of the review was ‘imminent’. The diary goes on to show us there have been promises of action with scant sign of results and the score, of issues resolved with advice to ministers, sits at 0/6. Looking at the evidence of the work diary it looks like this driver needs to be written up.

Unfortunately, the NTC is unlikely to get fined even though its work diaries shows it is clearly in breach of the rules. The problem is, this is the organisation which wrote the rules which the trucking industry is finding in impossible to comply with, on a local and national level. As Philip is keen to point out the NTC is full of well-meaning people trying to do their best to get a result which will satisfy both the government and the trucking industry. The problem seems to be with the regulatory system itself. Now that would be a revelation, a work diary for the lawmakers! Let’s see how they deal being made accountable for every single minute of the day!

Yes, it is a good idea to be able to get individual components of a combination passed as compliant PBS rules. Yes, they probably do need to rethink some of the classifications of the various levels of vehicle. And yes, some vehicles passed as PBS compliant should move out of the scheme and be included as compliant under the prescriptive vehicle rules.

All of those considerations will be as nought if the one major change trucking operators in Australia need, is not put right during the process of this review. PBS is a good concept, allowing vehicles to use roads if they can prove their safety and productivity credentials. But it’s all about access, the big bugbear for operators stopping them from embracing what is a very good idea is getting permission to access the routes they need.

Operators large and small across Australia have looked at the PBS rules and, if they thought it could be useful to them, seriously looked at getting an innovative vehicle on the road. After speaking to truck and trailer suppliers they will have realised the practical implications of putting the vehicle on the road. Some even put in orders for the vehicles to be manufactured.

The vast majority of good ideas, in terms of PBS, have never got further than the drawing board. Almost inevitably, the reason for the idea being dropped will be something to do with access to the roads and difficulties with getting permission for the owners of the infrastructure. Both local government and state authorities have placed innumerable obstacles in the way of operators trying to improve the efficiency of the transport task.

If the trucking industry want to make the PBS system something they can use in the future and not the irrelevance it is in danger of becoming, they need to speak with one voice and only talk about one subject. The message continually needs to be hammered home that without realistic access being allowed the PBS enthusiasts within the NTC might as well pack up and go home.

It would seem the RTA would prefer for the truck drivers of Australia to continue to use the tried, tested and not very reliable logbook system we have now. By insisting any in cab electronic monitoring equipment must be a part of the Intelligent Access Program, the RTA will put the electronic work diary out of reach for many operators.

Their submission to the NTC will, once again, lead to criticism of the NSW authorities as being more interested in revenue raising than in a practical solution for trucking. It would seem that they would prefer to continue to ping drivers for minor breaches when they make mistakes filling out their work diary.

In general, the submissions in reply to the initial position paper, came up with with practical suggestions and a sensible approach to a way forward. However, the RTA hold such a strong position, due to geography and their ability to introduce extra legislation to force trucks on NSW roads to meet their standards.

It is almost like winding the clock back 20 years to the days of Bruce Baird, NSW Minister of Roads, who insisted on the introduction of tachographs in the wake of the Grafton bus crash only to be stopped at the very last moment by his own cabinet.

Does the trucking industry want to return to the old days of confrontation and dispute? Or are we able to move forward and gain some sort of practical consensus to improve safety outcomes? It would seem the RTA’s insistence on over complicating the electronic work diary rules will lead us to one of two unwanted outcomes.

One, is a return to conflict between the states and between trucking organisations and state legislation, also involving disputes with the NTC. Two, is nothing happens, the intransigence of NSW means nothing gets done and we carry on with our current inefficient and time wasting procedures while getting fined for minor breaches like spelling mistakes.

Those days should have disappeared into the dim and distant past a
long time ago. We do not need to discuss whether rail pays its way or
road pays its way what we need to do is get the job done. Where we
need to be careful is who we choose to decide on the spending
priorities on infrastructure.

The problem for the road transport industry is the traditional strength of the rail lobby. They have history of being listened to by the media and politicians. The rail industry has just few companies involved who are willing to work together for the best interests of rail. Rail’s public image is good, are regarded as a safe and environmentally clean industry.
The NTC is supposed to be impartial on this issue and can fairly claim they are being even-handed, and they are, by the letter of the rules but not their spirit. The road transport industry needs to get it’s act together but it is nowhere near as slick as the rail industry and unable to show anything like a united front.
Are the guys at the NTC really playing with a straight bat? All we ask is for them to take a rational holistic viewpoint and make allowances for differences between the ability of the two sectors to produce spin.

In his column, commentator on all things transport here in Australia, Bob Murphy goes to town on the report (read it here) and lambasts the report as a ‘turkey’. The suspicion must be the intention of government to favour rail in infrastructure spending as a sop to the rail lobby and as PR exercise pandering to the general public’s perception of the supposed green-ness of the rail industry.

This the point at which the road transport industry should be getting out there with the real facts and demonstrating how green the road infrastructure dollar can be if spent wisely when coupled with increased productivity vehicles like B-triples etc.

If the rail lobby gets away with this now the trucking part of the equation have only got themselves to blame. There is a case for integrated supply chains using road and rail as part of the same system with smarter logistics planning and improved interfaces between the two. But, the true facts about the efficiencies and environmental plusses coming from trucking are being missed and ill-informed politicians will be making ill-informed decisions.

The first chink of light was when the NSW Minister for Roads, Michael Daley, told truckies at a conference in Bathurst that the RTA would now allow an extra two hours for livestock truck drivers if there were unforeseen circumstances causing an animal welfare problem. With the kinds of distances some of these guys cover that extra time in the back pocket can mean the difference between getting animals to the abattoir in good condition and having to sit out a seven hour break by the side of the road with four decks of distressed cattle.

Now it seems, the NSW Road Traffic Authority and the National Transport Commission have also decided to come to the party and talk about making the Basic Fatigue Management module a bit more flexible and to take account of the real world truck drivers in Australia live in. It looks as though concessions will be made both by the regulators and the operators to make this a much more practical and workable system.

What is a great pity, is the industry had to wait until the legislation was enacted before there was any real consultation between the people actually doing the work and the regulators. Why wasn’t there some real consultation in the lead up to introducing a game-changing fatigue management system to cover all of the problems and the special cases we have throughout Australia? Let’s hope they talk to the industry, properly, next time they want to make wholesale legislative changes.

Truck operator Ray Cauchi and CMV Truck Sales based in Laverton North in Victoria worked with Volvo Trucks and Gorski Trailers to put together a combination capable of making it through the rigourous and expensive process of getting a vehicle passed as PBS compliant.

By lengthening the combination to 19.6 metres it was possible to meet the bridge formula requirements with the set back front axle in the Volvo’s design. The year-long approval process and engineering costs were funded by CMV in conjunction with Volvo and Gorski. The resulting payload advantage is 1.8 tonnes for general access and 5.5 tonnes on B-double (Level 2) routes.

This is the kind of thing the pioneers of PBS were hoping for, all those years ago. It has been a long hard struggle to get the State governments and local authorities to understand the idea of PBS and make practical changes to make it happen.

These new long tipper and dogs should not be subject to the ‘Nimby’ syndrome as they will not be noticeably longer to any but the experienced eye. They have proven their swept path capability on corners is better than a semi, so they will perform better than trucks already on the road.

As the evaluation work has already been done by ARRB, this means it is possible for any truck operator to build to the same specification and get approval for the same weight allowance anywhere in Australia. Prepare to see a preponderance of ‘long dogs’ appearing on our roads, as soon as the construction sector starts to pick up.

The NTC has rolled out the new site in an effort to, ‘assist stakeholders in finding information about national reforms quickly and easily’. Chief Executive Nick Dimopoulos said NTC had identified several areas of the old website that could be improved.

“The new website improves transparency of the national reform process by ensuring up-to-date information is only a few clicks away,” he said. “Useful new features include user-friendly navigation menus and the ability to scan across NTC projects by name. The website also provides search functions for reports and publications.”

Yes, the new site is easier to navigate and has a fresh new look, but the same subjects and policy initiatives are now under different headings and can be found in a different menu than before.

The NTC does have some noble aims and always presents its arguments in a balanced and politically correct way. In its essence it appears to have the best interests of us all at heart. However, it just doesn’t seem to have the strength to drive these reforms through.

We are constantly hearing of new intitiatives, PBS is one of them, as is fatigue reform, truck braking reform and the building of rest areas.

What we are not seeing or hearing is any conviction and drive forcing the issue and getting things done. Every small step forward is met by federal apathy and state government opposition or indifference until what seemed llike a good idea tat the time becomes something more akin to a dog’s breakfast.

Visit the new website and check it out, it looks good and is useful. Look more closely and see if you can spot where it is papering over the cracks.

NTC Chief Executive Nick Dimopoulos praised the efforts of industry, unions and governments in preparing for the new laws.

“Australia’s Transport Ministers showed strong leadership in approving this reform, which will deliver significant safety benefits for heavy vehicle drivers and the community,” he said. “Our professional truck and bus drivers will be healthier, better rested and trained in managing fatigue risks, meaning the risk of heavy vehicle crashes is greatly reduced.

“Industry and unions have thrown their support behind the new laws. Their proactive approach to the development of this national reform has been crucial in ensuring we got it right.”

Dimopoulos said states and territories had done a good job in communicating the reform to industry through road shows and forums and coordinating implementation on a common date.

“NTC commends all those involved who have made this national reform a reality,” he said.

NTC developed an implementation kit for use by governments and industry containing information, compliance tools, a DVD (led by the South Australian Government) and checklists to help all parties in the supply chain transition smoothly to the new laws.

“The transport industry is the backbone of the nation. If we’re going to service the growing freight task safely, we’ve got to take the health and wellbeing of our drivers seriously,” said Dimopoulos. “The national heavy vehicle fatigue reform will go a long way towards achieving this.”

To read further of this news release and links to the Fatigue Implementation Kit

The publication of road networks to support the Performance Based Standards (PBS) reform was directed by the Australian Transport Council (ATC), who approved the reform in October 2007.

“The maps are a starting point to identify and address the gaps and mismatches on the existing national road network and move toward a more integrated and productive transport system,” said NTC Chief Executive Nick Dimopoulos.

PBS allows SMART vehicles to access a suitable road network based on the vehicle’s ability to stop, turn and travel safely without damaging roads or bridges. The vehicle’s performance is linked to road network access; the better it performs the more roads it can operate on.

“NTC is committed to ensuring PBS meets the needs of industry. The review is an opportunity for this important COAG reform to reach its full productivity and road safety potential,” Dimopoulos said.

The maps is said to provide guidance for transport operators in planning PBS applications. However, access to the network remains dependent on approval of the vehicle design and permits issued by states and territories. Maps for Victoria and Tasmania have not been included, so far.

Applications for road access outside the published network maps are still subject to route assessments and will be considered by states and territories on a case-by-case basis.

View the initial PBS maps here: PBS – Network Classification Maps

Feedback from industry on the PBS maps is encouraged here: pbsmaps@ntc.gov.au
For more information on the reform visit the PBS website here: PBS – Homepage