Comments from Northern Star Readers May/June 2007
Re-printed with permission of the Northern Star ……
“After my P-plate daughter was run off the road by a B-double and left for dead near Bangalow recently, I was pleased to read Lyndal Denny is starting a lobby group so something can be done about this. What happened to my daughter was attempted murder …..” Julie - Broadwater
“I suffered this same predicament April 28 at 7.30 am between Wardell and Ballina. I could only see the headlights of the truck and the grill ….. my heart was jumping out of my chest” B Felsch - Woodburn
‘In February this year, I was passed at 130 kms per hour by a truck belonging to Queensland Freight Management and this was in a 90 km per hour zone just coming into Brunswick Heads. I telephoned management and all they said was they would have a word to the driver. Police were powerless to do anything about it. I fully concur with the communities about big trucks travelling way too fast …….” G Smith - Byron Bay.
“I was the victim of a very frightening road rage incident – scared out of my wits by an angry man who had no idea at all about road safety …..” C Alexander - Clunes
“It is a pity that semi trailer drivers do not harness their collective aggressiveness and channel it into lobbying Federal and State governments to provide more funding to complete the upgrade of the Pacific Highway…..” Norm - Ballina
“It is my understanding that speed limits and the laws relating to the minimum distance a vehicle should maintain when traveling behind another have been established in the interest of safety for ALL road users. If there is special dispensation for trucks in regard to these laws, would the RTA please let us mere mortals – who spend our time on the road at about the level of their hubcaps – know, so that we can try to avoid the roads they travel on ……….” Terry - Mullumbimby
“I travel twice daily on the Pacific Highway – a few minutes I regard as the most dangerous part of my life. An incident this morning resulted in my car being pushed off the road at the end of two lanes I watched this driver then proceeded to intimidate the next car in front of him. This truck driver is a maniac and if he doesn’t kill himself, he will kill someone else. What is being done to stop these people killers – nothing!” Beth ….. Ballina
“I live next to the Wardell bridge and see trucks tailgating cars at speeds greater than 100kms per hour and blowing their airhorns to get the cars to go faster. It is wrong……” M Boston - Wardell
July 8th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I’m just writing to say i have grown up with trucks. Both my father and brother are in the trucking industry. My father has been driving trucks for over 30yrs and has made it is living, He operates a b double at the moment and i have been with him several times. And i can honestly say he does not speed or tailgate, the most problems he comes across is car drivers. Car drivers need to be educated on how to drive with trucks. People that critise truck drivers need not to put all truck drivers into one category, their are some honest truckies just trying to make a living.
July 9th, 2007 at 12:49 am
I am the son of a truckie and a truckie myself, yes I agree there are some bad ones out there how ever I was involved with a roadrage incident on the pacific highway and I was not at fault, to many times have I seen cars going out of there way to anger us, they see us coming up and they slow down, a few times I have had cars slow down to 80k in a 100 zone and then slam on there brakes, are the police going to target these guys? no just the truckies, we run on a tight timeline, they are hard to keep with the times that we can legaly drive, without being held up like that, there was another event on the highway on the gold coast where this car flew past me then cut me off and slammed on his brakes, then hurled a glass bottle out the window at me, I took his number plate and rang the police, they officer on the phone told me sorry there is nothing we can do about it. we never hear of the times that car drivers do these types of things, only when a truck does it. A car and truck crash, first person they blame is the truckie, ever think that maybe the car cut him off and caused it???? nah probley not.
July 9th, 2007 at 8:24 am
Our 21 yr old daughter was forced off the road recently, near Cumbulam, north of Ballina, in 2 completely seperate incidents. Both incidents involved semi’s, being on her side of the road, to the extent that she was forced to leave the road, at speed, to avoid a head-on collision. Fortunately, the road verge in this area is wide enough to allow that to happen.
July 10th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
just a few words on this subject as aowner/driver and now a driver for nearly 40 years, yes there is drivers that leave a lot to be desired on our roads and yes they will get the message sooner or later, but as i see from a few people that have made comment about this and have hit the nail on the head but seem to think that drivers can fix the problem out there with the roads, we have been trying since the early 70’s to get the hyways fixed and safe for all that drive on them, they started with the hume and the vic side of it has cut a lot of the smashes down that way with duel lanes so if the people want to save lives why dont you get behind this site and rally to get the roads fast trackedwith the power of the people for a change.
July 11th, 2007 at 2:51 am
Wot, Watt, What, Y, WYE , WHY ?
CANT C DA FOREST 4 DA TREES FOREST
Please Look Outside the Square OK FROM BOTH SIDES
July 11th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
was run off road by truck near tintenbar turnoff
July 16th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
My father is a truck driver and has been for nearly 25 years and has never caused or been in an accident. Not all truck drivers are like the ones that you showed us on a current affair. Yes there are truck drivers out there who do tailgate, but don’t car drivers as well. You are putting the truck drivers into one big group!! I used to travel with my father in the truck when i was younger and from what i saw he didnt tailgate cars.
We had a few near misses as car drivers had no patience or respect for the truckies. People driving cars need to learn how to drive on the road with trucks. I understand that some truck drivers may have their faults but there are many car drivers that do as well.
July 16th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
As an individual who has worked in the Transport Industry, the problem starts at the top and works down. Many Drivers are on contracts that isolate management from responsibility. The unrealistic expectations imposed by these agreements are an accident waiting to happen. Those who aren’t Contracting, find themselves reporting to Operations Managers who have “sold their souls” for the easy life, rather than get back into the Driver’s seat themselves. This lack of oversite by the Government has allowed medium to large Companies to pressure small operators into a position where they either risk lives or go bankrupt.
Over hundreds of years, society established the need for statutory (or legal) protections for the “little guy.” Without these protections, the “little guy” is desperate and dangerous. As Australians, we pay plenty of tax so that our Government manages such problems for us (minimum rates per tonne and minimum times from point to point). As with Pensions, Medical Care and the general infrastructure provided for society (roads, public transport etc), the taxation we pay is not diminishing, but providing little more than speed cameras.
July 16th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I have grown up with my father being a truck driver all my life and i travel with him several times a year. I have never seen him tailgate or speed because he is there just doing his job and feeding and supplying the country with what they need. How can one person believing that a truck driver was going to kill her and her son make a whole country turn against truck drivers when really its the cars fault majority of the time, they have to learn to drive with trucks and not interfere with what they are doing. Its wrong to criticise the whole population of truck drivers over one little incident that one person encounted.
July 16th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
I travel a lot with my work, and i would much prefer to sit behind trucks than most cars because they do the speed limit and stick to the rules. I sit on the speed limit and then get overtaken only for that car to turn off in fornt of me 100m up the road. I think it is wrong when you can criticise all these drivers when i see cars doing more stupid things than i ever see trucks. Its not just you that it affects think of the drivers that put up with stupid cars all day everyday.
July 16th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
“we run on a tight timeline, they are hard to keep with the times that we can legaly drive”,
I’m SORRY, but This is No Excuse. Where Ever we work, we must do so with the safety of everyone in mind, whether we work in a factory, a building site, an office, and even on the road, SAFETY COMES FIRST! I come from a trucking backround, and one of the most common sayings I have heard is “Truckies are their own worst enemy”. Yes, the trucking game is a very hard and dangerous occupation, but when there is always some other truckie/truck company who will say they can do it cheaper or quicker than the other guy, there will always be a decrease in the level of safety. Truckies/Truck companies must be allowed to do a “Fair Days Work for a Fair Days Pay” so as to maintain a Safe work enviroment for all concerned. This means that everyone Must accept that not everything will be delivered the next day, or in some ridiculous time frame, For Next to No Cost. If We Expect Trucks to Drive Safetly, We Must Allow them the necessary Time schedules and acceptable freight rates to do their work. If only this could be achieved, then we would only have to deal with the “Cowboys”, and I’m sure nearly all Good Truck drivers would tell those Cowboys to “Shape Up or Ship Out”
July 17th, 2007 at 3:03 am
Well done Lyndal for starting this campaign. I’m from Melbourne, Vistoria & we certainly have the same tailgating & intimidating problem on our VIC roads. It’s not always the truckies though! Small or heavy vehicles, it’s not acceptable. I actually learnt of your campaign as it featured on tonight’s program “A Current Affair” here on Ch 9. I will make more comment further on. Meanwhile truly hope the message gets across loud & clear to all road users concerned, because even if ONE life is saved, that alone is just precious.
July 17th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Unfortunately I did not read the feed before I placed the comment within this site but im not LABELLING TRUCKIES. As they say “Labels are for Jam Jars.” Where would we be without our “Guaranteed overnight Express Mail etc”…sorry to the truckies who may think I condone labelling you our hardworking guys out there…..”If you can read this you’re too close” was the perfect sticker for ALL tailgaters aka imbociles lmao!
July 17th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
I’ve been driving up and down the Pacific Hwy for over 20 years and large trucks are becoming a greater problem. I personally have been tailgated many times truck drivers, especially at night, with little or no regard for speed limits and safety of other road users. The huge B Doubles mixed in with small passenger vehicles on our hwys is a recipe for disaster.Get the Freight back on the trains.
July 18th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Hello, As the owner of a Transport Company, I would be very interested to see the letters that the “motorists” put on here about their so called bad experiences with truck drivers. Yeah I am sure there are some bad drivers out there, BUT, do you really think a site like this “dob in a truckie” is beneficial. These guys are out there trying to make a living, and as if they dont do it hard with all the rules and regulations, without someone setting a site up like this. Yeah they might tailgate sometimes, or they might let their trucks speedo go over the speed limit sometimes, but you have to remember they also do up to 7000km’s a week. What does the average car driver do, 200km’s in a big week.
Unless I have missed something on this website, I cannot find where you can read copies of letters written into you. Maybe there have not been any letters written in. I know there are some above, but to read them all would be interesting. I really think this site is very petty, and maybe you need to go for a ride in a truck for a week and see what truck drivers have to put up with from car drivers. I think at the end of the day it might all even out between car and truck drivers. Maybe even the car drivers ome out in front a little bit!!!!!!!!!
Well good luck to all the truckies who are trying to make a living out there. Who knows if you all get “dobbed in”, then these guys report you, you lose your points and cant keep “this country moving” the car drivers will not have any fuel to drive their cars, so you will not be able to tailgate them. The car drivers will not have any new cars to drive because the truckies transport the new cars to the car yards, and their wont be any food on tables for people to eat.
Who keeps Australia moving then? Not the truckies.
Well by now, you have probably realised I am a bit worked up about this website and one can only hope for the truckies sake, this website will not be here long.
All the best
Karen
(Wife of a hard working truckie)
July 22nd, 2007 at 9:35 am
“Lyndal’s most recent incident involved her car being tailgated by a semi driver who had maneuvered his truck to within a metre of her boot. Both doing 100kms per hour, Lyndal’s car and the truck remained in tandem until she finally slowed to a complete stop on the highway. Both Lyndal and her teenage son feared for their lives. Lyndal says she believed at the time that if she tried to pull off the side of the highway, the driver would have given her car a nudge to help it off the road. The truck driver then drove his rig around Lyndal’s stationary car – onto the incorrect side of the road – and around a blind corner.”
Lyndal if this report is true, then it is you that is the problem! Did you actually come to a complete stop on the highway & force the semi onto the other side of the road?
Another thing I’ve picked up from the website is those who have problems with trucks tend to have multiple incidents, including yourself, which indicates to me that maybe they should look at their own driving habits first!
Too many times I’ve seen ‘road vigilantes’ try to maintain their view of the world on the road, which creates chaos for other road users. How about we all just drive with courtesy & if you aren’t confident on the road, or even scared of large trucks, please, please, please stay off the highways at times when large volumes of heavy vehicles are on the road.
July 22nd, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Get real Karen. This web site I hope is here to stay & if your husband is a law abiding truckie who does not indulge in any of the behaviour this site is trying to stamp out then he has no need to worry.
Are truckies and their supportes so thick that they cannot see that it is NOT truckies in general that are being targeted but a minority of rogue trcukies who want to set their own laws and operate poutside the rules imposed on other road users.
It is like anything in life there is good and bad. So why should we tolerate the minority that are bad just because the majority are good. Let’s fix it for the benefit of EVERYONE. That is what this site is about.
By the way Karen you couldn’t have tried too hard to find the letters section where letters from both sides are published.
In any case there should be no sides here. It is all about fixing a problem so that everyone is better off. Who would not want that?
Peter Wills
July 22nd, 2007 at 5:56 pm
I had a dangerous incident occur to me a few weeks ago. I was driving on the Pacific Highway from Grafton to Ballina at the speed limit (100 kilometres an hour) about 9PM (so it was dark). This is a 1 lane stretch of the road.
A semi-trailer came up behind me and at times was around 1 metre behind me. I attempted to notify the driver by honking my horn numerous times. This resulted in no action. My partner wrote down the registration number (we were unable to get the company name). At all times there was no safe exit from the road, so I had to continue driving with the dangerous truck behind me. My partner and I were in shock and I kept saying “if I have to brake then that truck will clean us up”.
Eventually an overtaking lane came up and the tuck overtook me (in other words the truck driver was exceeding the speed limit!). The truck then overtook other trucks that were in front of me as well, so I assume he was in a hurry.
When I called the Ballina police I reported the incident and received the response “Well what do you want us to do about it?” I replied saying “There is a dangerous truck on the road. It could cause a dangerous incident if a car was hit at 100 kilometres per hour. I am merely informing you of a dangerous incident and you are the police. I assume that you would know what to do.” I gave her the registration number (Queensland). She said that she would report it to highway patrol.
Personally I am sure that the problem truckies are only a small portion of the other truckies. Hopefully the good truckies will sort out these bad truckies when they see these dangerous incidents. Eventually if enough people complain then restrictive laws will be placed on all truckies. So there is an incentive for the good truckies to sort out the bad ones.
Any truckie, or associate should remember that trucks are much bigger and heavier and will cause allot of damage. So even if a car is in the wrong, a truck does have a responsibility to ensure it remains a safe vehicle for road users. A car doing the wrong thing is likely do less damage than a truck doing the wrong thing!
Also, most voters drive cars not trucks. Therefore if trucks do appear to be doing the wrong thing to cars then politicians will react.
So my message is - “Good truckies sort out the bad ones for your own sake!”
July 31st, 2007 at 1:17 pm
I have to take issue with the idea that truckies are being tainted by a few irresponsible truck drivers. It seems that some bad practices have become accepted behaviour by a larger group.
I recently moved from the Sydney to the Central Coast and have become a regular commuter on the F3.
The southbound section of freeway between Mount White and Brooklyn has a 90kph section for the descent to the Hawkesbury River Bridge.
I often find myself the slowest vehicle in this section even though I am at the speed limit. Being a new regular on this crowded freeway I have no wish to indulge in unsafe driving. And yet I dare not use the leftmost of the 3 lanes for fear of being tail-gated by heavy vehicles that come down this section far in excess of the speed limit.
I know it has only been using the F3 for 3 weeks but I have yet to observe a heavy vehicle who was keeping to the limit. Nor have I observed any law enforcement presence at the times I was traveling even peak-hour.
One morning I was passed on the left by 6 heavy vehicles including 1 B-double who used all 3 lanes to weave in and out of the smaller vehicles. I was so concerned over the behaviour that I slowed to under 70 kph to ensure I was no where nearby in the event of an accident.
I assume one reason that heavy vehicles speed here to give them momentum to go uphill on the Brooklyn to Cowan section. This is no excuse for unsafe or intimidating driving. I cannot accept this is “professional” driving.
It would seem that in 3 weeks by sheer coincidence I have only encountered the few irresponsible truckies.
August 6th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
This site is great. It allows for BOTH the perspective of the car drivers and the truckies.
But some of the truckies letters were really predictable,for example implying that we car drivers think we are 100% blameless for situations that occur between trucks and cars and that this site supports that idea.I can’t see that anywhere on this site where that idea is implied. I think this site is fantastic and acts as a long over-due voice for frustrated car drivers that feel its time they had a voice after years of intimidation on the roads by trucks! Truck drivers voice their demands for respect from car drivers and the government constantly through the various trucking associations,unions,industry magazines and websites with their “Keeping Australia Moving” slogan.
Where else, aside from here can the car drivers that are intimidated or nearly killed in the process of truck drivers “Keeping Australia Moving” go to voice their views?
Car drivers have the same rights as truck drivers and that goes for road laws and freedom of speech!
My fiancee is a truck driver.So is his Dad,his uncle and his cousins.
So I have no prejudice against the industry and I HAVE spent time with him in the truck seeing what he faces from car drivers.And as I mentioned previously, the blame goes both ways.
And no where on this site is anyone saying cars wouldn’t take the blame if they were at fault.
But that kind of denial or blame-shifting does frequently occur in the trucking industry.Its always the car drivers fault or its the police targetting them or its the condition of the roads or its the road authorities and if we’re lucky, its said that maybe its just “a few rough truckies”!
Well if there’s just “a few” then those FEW must be out EVERYTIME I’m on the freeway!
And I get so tired of this line “If truck stop so does australia”! Do doctors blockade hospitals and go around preaching “If doctors stop, peoples lives stop”!
Each industry deserves respect, NONE more than the other and when it comes to the roads, courtesy goes both ways.
And if you are the driver of a massive b-double and you are tailgating a small car, then that isn’t COURTESY by anybodys definition!
Yes truckies work hard. Guess what,so do I. And I deserve the right to drive home from a long day “busting my arse” at work without my kids lives being put in danger by a truck driver who feels that he has more right to be on the road than I do.
Yes there are “good” truckies. My fiancee is one of them. But he is also the first to stand up and point out the massive flaws in the industry and lack of accountability taken by drivers for their dangerous driving antics.
And what’s more, he doesn’t command the respect of those around him under the slogan of “If trucks stop so does Australia”…..he earns it by sharing the roads safely with all other drivers.
August 8th, 2007 at 8:37 am
As a responsible truck driver I feel I have to defend those of us out there doing the right thing.
Through years of experience and some very good training I always leave a safe gap between myself and vehicles in front of me.
For the uneducated car drivers out there, a couple fo facts:
* Trucks can’t accelerate the same as cars, so when overtaking cars, truck drivers will creep up to the rear of a car (remember the truckie can see over the top of a car quite easily) so that when the move to overtake is undertaken the truckie wants to spend as small amount of time on the incorrect side of the road as possible.
* Trucks that are speed limited, are generally speed limited through the engine managment system, this speed limit is based on time over distance, the most accurate way of setting the speed, unfortunately car/trucks/buses in Australia generally have a 5% error down built into their speedo, what this means is that a speedo will read 100 when in fact they are only doing 95km/h. So when a truck ‘appears’ to be doing 105km/h, in fact they are doing 100. What this means is that a car sits on 100 (by their speedo) they are actually doing 95, the truck is doing 105 (by their speedo) they are actually doing 100, hence the speed difference, and the ‘need’ to overtake.
I will not defend the poor behaviour of some of the industries idiots, but defending all the good ones out there.
As a parting comment I would like to say that any skill takes years of practice and much knowledge, most truckies have both, they are competent and confident operators of their piece of equipment, as a converse most car drivers spend very litle time behind the wheel, generally only driving to and from work, supermarket and then longer distances on holidays, this huge variance of time behind the wheel means a great deal of difference in performance.
Stay safe, look in your mirrors, keep your speed consistent and have a good day.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:52 am
ARGHHH, another one!
Dave writes ‘One morning I was passed on the left by 6 heavy vehicles including 1 B-double who used all 3 lanes to weave in and out of the smaller vehicles. I was so concerned over the behaviour that I slowed to under 70 kph to ensure I was no where nearby in the event of an accident’
Dave don’t you realise that slowing down to 70kph on the F3 in peak hour it is that YOU that becomes the problem & if there is an accident it would be more likely caused by YOU sitting 20kph under the speed limit in the centre lane!
For Gods sake, either drive with the traffic flow, or else (& I’m pleading here) please, please, please catch a train before YOUR actions cause a major incident on the F3.