Safety Snapshots

If you wish to contact Chris, please scroll to the bottom of this page  …..

Welcome to a new and what we believe VITAL area of the COASTTOCOAST100 website. Safety Snapshots - with Chris Cartwright – finalist in the 2007 inaugural Australian Young Truck Driver of the Year Competition - a national campaign to find Australia’s safest and most skilled young truck driver. This competition was open to all HC or MC license holders born after 1 April 1967. The finals were held in Sydney April 1, 2007 and involved theory and practical demonstration with questionnaires, interviews and driving competitions. More than 1,500 drivers throughout Australia registered for the campaign which seeks to not only find the nation’s best young driver but also to enhance the image of truck drivers on the roads and to reduce road accidents.

Chris, from Victoria competed against 16 other finalists in a rigorous six-hour competition designed to test their precision driving skills, road behavior and general knowledge of the industry. Participants had to prove they could stop a 20 tonne, 19 metre semi-trailer on a 40cm square plate, drive all 11 wheels over a 20cm wide metre-long plank without one wheel coming off, knock over only one of three small cylinders on a plate with their front tyre and overcome a wide range of other maneuvering tests and obstacles to highlight their driving skills.

The campaign focused on the importance of on-going education, training and road safety and also on the trucking industry’s existing skills and workforce development programs. The Australian trucking industry faces a major shortage of drivers over the next decade as the industry is set to double in size at a time when many of the current drivers will retire. The campaign hopes to encourage young people into the industry to embark on a life-long and rewarding career.

Chris Cartwright has been a part of the transport industry for nine years. He has worked for express companies, driven bulk tankers and refrigerated transport from B-Doubles down. Chris’ family have been involved in the trucking industry with both his father, an uncle and younger brother all heavy vehicle drivers.

Chris has been a prolific contributor to this website and is living proof that young Australians with the right training and driver attitude can make a positive contribution to the transport industry whilst reducing chronic driver shortages.

 Chris Cartwright

Chris’ First Contact with the COASTTOCOAST100 website – July 2007

As a national finalist in the recent Young Australian Truck Driver competition I would like to offer my sincere support for your cause. I would however, like to express a little concern as to the marketing of your cause. Until I visited your website the only expression of your ideas was broadcast on A Current Affair, which gave the impression of a witch hunt.

I too share your frustration with the minority group of drivers be they car drivers, truck drivers, or motorcyclists. Some drivers run the gauntlet and play Russian roulette with not just their own lives but everyone else’s - lives of those who we love, lives of those we even just know from our local community.

I do however believe that we shouldn’t just be reporting truck drivers for bad behavior. While I acknowledge that on the Pacific highway there seem to be a concentration of ill-mannered drivers, I do think it’s important to also strike some balance to the equation. Could I suggest maybe an area also to report a good truckie? That way we don’t just hear of the bad experiences but also gives people a chance to be able to recognize, and give some exposure to those, whose reputations are being tainted by the actions of the minority?

If I may also pass comment on the forum in which you were involved with on Channel 9. I have watched and watched that footage of the heavy vehicle and the Mercedes car coming together in the tunnel. In my honest opinion it exposes the following bad habits exhibited in both drivers.

1) The blinker on the truck was not on for nearly long enough to adequately notify other road users of his intentions before he started his manouvre.

2) That model of Mercedes Benz I believe has an indicator on the mirror which from what I have seen was negated the whole time while he attempted his manouvre.

3) I don’t believe I saw the driver of the Mercedes Benz complete a head check in order to check his blind spot.

I would also like to state that if the side pillar on a car has a severe enough blind spot for the driver to be disadvantaged then you can only imagine how hard it is for us driving trucks to see any closer than about 2m from the prime mover at the point of impact that was shown in that footage. Anyways best of luck I look forward to your comments

Chris Cartwright - (National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007)

AND THEN THERE WAS THE TRUCK DRIVER WHO’S AGGRESSIVE ACTIONS WERE THE CATALYST FOR THE COASTTOCOAST100 CAMPAIGN

lyndal denny, ur the one!! wanna know who i am. im that truck driver that u made stop on the pacific hwy. what did u want to die?? your lucky i was in a good mood. If i wasnt in a hurry to get to sydney the following morning with ur fruit and veggies, i would of stoped and had u charged. for disturbance of traffic on a hwy, thats the most stupidest thing anyone could or done stop on a busy highway. yes ur right u are lucky to be here today. and get ur story right where u slowed down to 60km/h its actually an 80km/h zone u silly bitch thats why i was flashing my lights cos u were doing 20k’s under the speed limit when u had no reason to. the speed limit drops to 60km/h at the fixed speed camera going south toward st helena. so tell me why did u lie? revenue raising?

and what the hell bull shit u were doing 100km/h no friggin way. my truck does 99.9km/h no faster and u doing well below 99.9km/h ill give u the drum. and u rekon i was 1 metre from ur boot. no love sorry, now how can u tell how close i was behind u when the back of a car is the biggest blindspot in a car???

i was possiblt 3-4 metre from ur car which is MORE THEN ENOUGH room for me to overtake u around the straight bit of road 3 corners away. that was my intention to pass u there. When i overtake i get up close its a thing we call a sling shot not to scare u bt to pass u quicker. so go for a drive to MT cotton and go for a defence driving course or get the hell of the road. even when i wasnt behing u a white commodore was behind u. well b4 st helena. u were all over the road learn how to handle the vehice u have, instead of telling us truck drivers how to drive our trucks. ive got more experence then you. im 57 years of age and have been driving trucks for over 40 years a hell of a lot more times then u. and in those 40 years all of them are accident free!!. so stop ur lies u are spreading cos none of them are true, i have no idea where u get this information from bt where ever it is its absolute rubbish. 20 years ago there was none of this it was a pleasure to drive on the road. honostly give it a break before it is too late lyndal. i hope u learn ur lesson and dont be scared of trucks we are not out there to harm. harrase etc: to other motorist we are on the road to do our job, its our work place u have a work place we dont go there and tell you how to do your job do we??. no thats right. and now u have most likely brain washed ur 14 year old son into hating trucks and being frighting of them nice work. i really hope u post this what i have just typed in a main page where everyone can see it. and i really hope you take all this in.

ps: i got my grandson to type this for me as my age i know nothing about computers let alone turn one on., he 2 is a truck driver on interstatre and has told me MANY stories of what car drivers do to him ie: throw cocke can out the window and hit the truck slam the brakes on then take off just for the fun of it. we are ALL sick to death of you CAR drivers taking the piss out of us. and NOW IT IS GOING TO STOP. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. ive got so far 127 truck drivers owner drivers and company drivers all behind me ready to do a blockade on the pacific hwy. and im sure im we are not the rest off the truckies who are gonna be in it. so think wisely. Goodbye. regards ricky

Ricky…..Ricky, Ricky, Ricky. I do believe you when you say you didn’t mean to intimidate Lyndal and her son. I really do. However ….. what if we were to change the situation just slightly and give Lyndal a blowout. That unfortunately changes the equation because while I acknowledge that you would’ve been able to see tangible dangers in front of Lyndal’s car, you wouldn’t have been able to foresee a blowout.

If Lyndal were then to panic and her car were suddenly out of control, rolls in the left lane, by the time you’ve even had time to react, you’re pushing her down the road, with potentially catastrophic consequences. Leaving a safe distance between vehicles isn’t about what you can see. It’s simply about what you can’t.

Allowing for unseen dangers is a responsibility of all drivers, not just us driving trucks. So you see Ricky, while the situation I have just described may very well be a far fetched worse case scenario, ask yourself this. If that were your wife and child in that car, and that scenario occurred; if they died could you forgive yourself knowing that by simply backing off you single handedly could’ve been their savior? I used to drive for a km rate myself I now drive for trip money. But even so, if you can’t make enough money the safe way, then you need to change jobs.

Chris Cartwright - (National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007)

Hi Chris .. as always, it is a privilege to receive your comments on the COAST to COAST 100 website. As we’ve come to expect, the points you make are without bias having an emphasis on road safety and saving lives. It is vital that we break down this us and them mentality IF we are to be successful in changing attitudes and sharing the road safely.

I have been trying for weeks now to decipher the (YATD 2007) after your name and have only JUST realized you are one of the finalists in the inaugural Young Australian Truck Driver of the Year Awards! I must admit to having assumed you to be at least 30 years older than your 28 years!

Chris, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you for achieving the recognition as being one of the top 15 young heavy vehicle drivers in AUSTRALIA. That we have young men like you working to make a difference on our roads is reassuring for us all.

Imagine for a moment the reduction in road trauma and fatalities if road users of ALL persuasions were we all to undergo a shift in driver attitude and adopt the measures Chris advocates whilst behind the wheel. Driver education of course is another major issue which must be addressed as well-educated, skilled drivers obviously make a major difference to road safety. Keep up the great work Chris. We look forward to you next contact!

Kind regards Lyndal (August 2007)

AND SO WE START WITH CHRIS’ LATEST EDITION

Howdy folks.  This is an email that I have had in the chamber for quite some time.  It is also probably one of the most anticipated emails, especially for those who have had questions to be addressed by a member of the police.  That said it gives me great pleasure to write about a guy with whom I believe is an absolute wealth of information.  I’d like to introduce you all to Sergeant  Martin McLachlan or Marty as he prefers. 

He has been a copper for more years than I have held a licence.  “I have been a Police member for 17 years but not all connected with road policing having spent time in a lot of differant fields including General duties, Force Reponse Unit, Sexual Offences Unit, Crime Investigations and motor cycle traffic policing.”  

The last 2 years based at Shepparton, Victoria as the Officer in charge of the TMU office or Traffic Management Unit.  Some might know this department of the police as the ‘highway patrol’.  These are the police that are absolute specialists in their field.  They’re not about writing tickets as some might believe, “I spend, I would say about 5% of my time - which I must admit isn’t as much as I’d like - on the road.” 

But behind the scenes this bloke is busily collating data, organising rosters, attending meetings with people like me and also making contributions to not just the local Road Safety committee but also on a national level.  “One of the main tasks is traffic collision analysis. I predominately focus on a combined total of fatal and injury collisions over a five to ten year period to try and paint a picture which I use to task members to most effectively patrol geographic locations/times/vehicle types/ and driver types to have the greatest impact on road trauma reduction.”  Marty said.  For this gentleman, actions speak louder than words.

We spoke of many issues with regards to towing caravans, P-platers and of course the new licencing system that is going to be taking place in Victoria.  The new staged licencing system states that P-platers only carry 1 passenger in their car in the first 12 months of holding their P’s. 

When asked what it was aiming to achieve, Marty’s response was unquestionable in my opinion.  “Young drivers - aged 17 to 25 - are over represented in the statistics of fatalities.  The aim is to remove a few things.  The distraction element, the fact that also a young bloke, with only his girlfriend in the car will be a lot more reserved on the road, as the girlfriend will be more likely to tell him to pull his head in. 

This is opposed to his mates in which case, lets face it, he’ll show off.  The other element that this scheme aims to target is just the number of people involved, IF a fatal occurrence were to take place.”  Can you really argue with this?  For those that disagree with such restrictions, ask yourself this.  Is it better to require the services of the police to clean a single person fatality or a car load of possibly 5 people? 

I must admit I was a skeptic until it was explained in the way Marty did.  The other part of the new system for Learners and P’s are the changing of the way motorcycles are approved to be used.  Instead of the system restricting the bikes through displacement restrictions, it will instead follow in the 4 wheel variety.  By this I mean with the introduction of power to weight ratio restrictions. 

Through this system people that have a heavier bike can expect to be granted a higher cubic capacity, whereas a lighter bike will be subject to a smaller cubic capacity.  This will in fact allow people have a lot wider choice when it comes to learning. 

Observation was another item we discussed.  I have said in past emails to this website that it’s the unseen that is the most dangerous on our roads.  Marty also backed this statement up as well as adding that the biggest difference between truck drivers and car drivers is their observation skills. 

“Irrespective of the two way radio truck drivers are better at observation than cars.  Where a truck driver will look at the horizon, car drivers tend to look right at the road only a short distance in front of the bonnet.” 

An example of this is the amount of level crossing accidents that has been a focus of late in Victoria.  Marty had sent one of his team to a level crossing - after issuing many statements through the local media to warn people - to observe what it was that people were and were not doing. 

After his members came back with some very frightening news, Marty decided to attend this same level crossing.  Cars were doing one of two things.  “They were stopping - only because the police car was present - but those that were just slowing down weren’t even turning their heads to see if there was a train approaching.”  Marty said. 

This brings me to the one question that has to be asked.  Why on earth would you bestow your trust in mechanisms that can fail?  I’m not saying they will but how do you know they haven’t failed on THIS OCCASION?  The best form of advice which is the message from the police, is slow down and approach that crossing as if there IS a train coming.  In my opinion IGNORANCE is no excuse, nor could you possibly use that as an explanation to your child’s best friend’s parents.

This then brings me to the next point that affects truck drivers.  I can’t mention problems with car drivers without giving notice to those in my industry.  In the last 12 months in the Shepparton district under Marty’s command, there have been 6 fatal incidents involving the deaths of the truck drivers.

Four of these deaths the police actually know the drivers weren’t wearing their seatbelt, the other 2?  The seatbelts were in fact incinerated as much the driver’s body and its unknown in these circumstances whether or not they were.  I know that the guys on this website would be wearing their seatbelt, so I’m not going to lecture those who do.  However, to put this myth that driving without a seatbelt is safer in a truck than a car, let’s explore it a little. 

“If we were to drive a truck into a tree at the same speed as a car you would have more chance to survive in a car without a seatbelt than a truck.” Marty said.  I was stunned.  I think the look on my face must have said it all to Marty, but then he explains.  “When you’re in a car you have about 60cm of movement before your head impacts on something, be it steering wheel or the windscreen.  In a truck on the other hand you have a much larger distance around you in the cabin.  The bigger the area you have to move, your body actually increases in speed before the impact, thus making the damage to ones body somewhat more damaging.

It was claimed by 1 truck driver that he would be able to hold himself in the event of a collision.  However, you would have to nearly be Superman in order for this to happen.  “At impact you may have anything up to 4 G’s of force on your body, and at the average weight of a grown man, that would mean you would have to be able to nearly lift one tonne of weight in order to restrain yourself.”  Marty said.  I don’t know about you folks, but that aint me!! 

Now to start wrapping up for this edition I asked Marty about the questions that were posed by Nitro.  For those who are unaware of it, Nitro asked why it was that the police spend so much time in the bushes instead of being out on the road being seen?  Well Nitro Marty doesn’t believe in sitting on the side of road too much. 

However, it does need to be said that a police car traveling along a freeway section of road, then the only people that are really going to see them is the traffic traveling in the opposite direction or those one or two cars ahead going in the same direction, whereas by sitting in the middle of a freeway being visible in both directions allows EVERYONE to see them.  I’m sure you’ll agree that’s not such a bad idea eh? 

The plain cars I might also add weren’t used to sit as much as the  marked “double ones” as we call them.  Under Marty’s command his plain cars are asked to just pull people over at random.  “When an unmarked police car is seen on the side of the road having pulled over another vehicle there is a belief that the driver has been detected committing an offence, which is the case only some of the time, at other times it might just be a licence, log book or breath test check this has a great impact on passing motorists perception that any new model larger car might just be a police car.” 

One question that I wanted to ask Marty and the fellow truck drivers will know exactly what I am talking about is why on earth do the coppers pull us over and instead of being behind us with their flashing lights on they’re in front?  Is that a lazy thing?  Marty chuckles at my lazy comment, but then explained to me that by pulling over in front of the heavy vehicle, the officer can then maintain a good visual on the driver in the event that an offence has been committed. 

“Members can keep an eye on the driver for evidentiary reasons, such an example would include drugs are thrown out the passenger window.  However, it’s not the only reason.  In the event that it’s a stock crate like most people we don’t want to get used as a toilet by flying pigs, cattle etc.” Marty added.  “The other reasons also include being covered in brake dust, and also the safety aspect.  We wish not to have our backs to the traffic for any longer than necessary.  So no it’s not a lazy thing.” 

Ok folks well I think I have raved on enough for this edition, my hat goes off to Marty for the time he spent with me, even though I told him it should only take about 15 minutes - I was there for about 2 hours.  I would like to thank Marty for his time, and look forward to future talks with him about the issues we face whilst out there ‘delivering the groceries.’

Chris Cartwright

National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007.

Howdy folks.  Whoa, this last week has seen quite an influx of comments from a broad range of people - people that have a different point of view - people with their own ideas.  I like it.  I only have one reservation though.  It’s some of the hatred,(I dislike the strength of this word), I read in the emails that are posted.  Intentional or not, myself as a driver and a lot of others try to be a light at the end of the tunnel only to be branded by some as a junkie.

Some people have asked me in the past through this website how I can continue writing some of these long essays about road safety especially after a long week enduring about 5500kms in the seat.  I sometimes ask myself the same question but I also come up with the same answer.  If I don’t continue - if I lose sight of the big picture - if I give up, then how can I be of help to the very people that I’m trying to help?

And so this brings us to Edition 18.  If I were to give you all a picture of exactly the same landscape, and ask that you write down exactly what you see, how many of these responses would be exactly the same?  I think it would be pretty hard to have 2 people notice exactly the same the amount of things.  And it’s all due to our PERCEPTION.

This one little human thing can affect so much in our lives.  We perceive an accident to be bad due to how much debris is spread over the road, we perceive threats differently.  We can even perceive someone to lack intelligence by the way the appear to us.  It’s then not until we get to know that person that we find out that this person is just like you and me.   Did you know that the charge of assault can be based on perception?  Because assault occurs in the mind of the victim.  If we believe we have been assaulted then we must have been.  It’s perceived.

The same can be applied to some of the posts we have recently received.  We see young Paul.  (Did you notice my perception?)  He writes in that some truck drivers - and even Ian who responded - must be on drugs to have done the things that they had seen.  He perceived them to be on drugs.  He doesn’t know for sure.  He doesn’t need to or have the desire to find out. Irrespective of the facts. It is our own perceptions that lead us down that ugly path of assumption.   

We have seen things on TV and heard reports but it’s based on what exactly?  Facts?  Only the people that are involved can be closer to the facts and even then they are only perceived by them to be true.  An example of this would be the cliche that there is 2 sides to every story.

My point is in this issue whilst we drive down the road try to take a step back at every intersection, before changing lanes, before making that turn, and see what it is that is in front of your eyes.  Not what we perceive to be there.  This is why - and I have mentioned this in past posts - that it is imperative that we examine ourselves more than someone else.  It is only then can we as motorists move forward and see that it’s not just others that can be wrong but also ourselves.  Until next time, take care all, and safe driving.
Chris Cartwright
Young Australian Truck Driver Competition National Finalist.

Howdy folks!  I’m back to stir up the apple cart once again with Edition 17.   When we talk about fatigue, what exactly do we mean?  Do we talk about fatigue as in the feeling of being sleepy?  Do we mean that fatigue is the feeling you have when you have sat around the house all day watching tv?

I was a little surprised to hear on a local radio station on the Gold Coast just recently on one of my last trips to Brisbane that 1 in 4 - if my memory serves me well - Gold Coast drivers admit to driving while fatigued.

I’d like to suggest that there are about 3 different types of fatigue and also different contributing factors to each type.  I’d also like to suggest that it takes a combination of fatigue types to make you fall asleep behind the wheel.

The first type of fatigue is physical fatigue.  You know the one - when you have spent all day moving house?  You’re packing and unpacking, you might even be mowing lawns and cleaning up the garden.  You get aches and pains all over your back, mostly muscles.  This type of fatigue has a pretty self explanatory cause.  Physical Activity.

The next type of fatigue I would like to suggest is lazy fatigue.  This type of fatigue presents when you have sat around the house all day watching tv as I tend to do way too much.  With this inactivity nothing seems to work, you sleep half the day without even knowing what it is that you have done to make yourself feel tired.  I experience this a lot on weekends after a busy week.  I like to call this my catch up day.

The last type of fatigue is mental strain.  This type of fatigue can be brought about by needing to concentrate for long periods of time.  Like studying a whole day of maths resulting in your brain working overtime for an extended period of time.  Driving can cause this type of fatigue, also sitting at a desk typing on a computer all day.  You get that tension build up in your neck, your eyes become a little sore, and you feel like your brain is about to explode.  You may also experience headaches.

To complicate things further I’d like to suggest we have different levels of each of the above fatigue types.  This then gives us almost a 2 dimensional problem.  On one hand we have the different types of fatigue then a scaled level of that fatigue.  When we then try to mix these types of fatigue and levels, we then are starting to put ourselves into the sleepy mood.  Because when you think about it if our brain is tired from working at the computer for part of the day and our muscles are tired from a little physical activity then that’s our whole body.

The next question to think about is how much risk you’re posing to the public and yourself by driving? This question entirely can have multiple answers that are quite correct.  The reason for this is because fatigue affects us entirely differently.  I’d like to simplify this risk assessment to about 4 levels.  They are:-

1.  Sore buttocks from sitting or numbing
2.  Itchy or stinging eyes and an inability to get comfy in the seat
3.  Zoning out and staring.  You may also start to feel like you’re watching yourself from outside your body
4.  Heavy feeling in your eyes to the extent you voluntarily want to shut your eyes.

By the time you have reached level 3 you’re past the stage in my opinion to be pulling over.

When we get home from a long day at the office, wherever your office may be, we sit down to have dinner, watch a little tv and  we think “might have to goto bed, I’m getting tired.”  We then go through the motions and end up in our world of slumber.  If we can say that this scenario is pretty typical of the average person then why do we not get a good nights rest before driving?  Why do we think that we have to drive at night and end up putting ourselves and others at risk?  Why is it that we don’t have the SELF CONTROL or SELF DISCIPLINE to just say no?  At the end of the day it’s just another day.  Is the world going to cease to exist if we don’t get to our destination overnight?  I’d think not.

Anyways time for me jettison.  Let me know what you think? I would love to know how many people would agree with the above scenario’s.  Take care and safe and happy motoring. 

Chris Cartwright - Young Australian Truck Driver Competition, 2007 National Finalist.Howdy folks.  Travelling around our great land it’s very interesting to see the different sights this country of ours has from the mountainous terrain to the wonderful sights you see in just a different city.  I think we’ve all seen something different just going to a town we’ve never been to before.  Along with seeing new sights in a new city or town whichever the case maybe we also drive on a completely different road.  You may think it’s the same black coloured lumps of gravel stuck together with the same tar, but it can be quite different.  Very different.  And this my friends introduces us to Edition 16.

First of all however I would like to mention Newton’s first law.  One newcomer to this site in recent months made the comment we should all look up the word “inertia” in the dictionary.  Well - I have done one better.  I have done some research into inertia and have come up with Newton’s first law.  Newton’s first law states that an object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. 

What does this mean though?  To give an example of this would be to drive down the street with your seat belt on.  Then simply put the brakes on.  Do you feel yourself wanting to keep moving?  This demonstrates inertia.  You see  ….. inertia is the resistance an object has to change in its state of motion.  Without you knowing it your body is resisting the change of speed.  Now to intersect this theory with Newton’s first law.  Your body will continue to move at the same speed unless something else - namingly the seat belt - stops you.  The seat belt is the outside force and your body is the mass.  We normally get a little confused when we talk about weight and mass.  Mass is measured in kilograms, and Weight is measured in Newton’s or whatever the gravitational pull on your body is measured in.

I know that passage is a little heavy but basically, if your car is doing 100km/h then your body is doing 100km/h even after you press on the brake pedal.  Without cars fitted with seat belts then the dashboard would be the outside force stopping you from travelling at 100km/h.  The exact reason as to why it’s a good idea to wear your seat belt.  As if you don’t hit the brakes and your car hits a wall or something maybe like the front of my truck your car might stop but your body continues to travel at 100km/h and hence you impact with the dash causing all sorts of uncomfortable areas on your body.

Anyway onto the topic of discussion today.  Driving on unfamiliar roads.  To demonstrate my point to this I will use an experience that I have recently experienced.

I decided to travel the Gwydir Highway just a week ago.  I had plenty of bad stories of this Gibralter Range, hairpin corners, bloody big climbs and I thought well seeing I can’t do my changeover in Sydney, there is but 1 option for me - to tackle the great range - which I might add stands at a whopping 1100m from sea level.

First word of advice.  If you know someone who knows the road you wish to travel on, it’s a good idea to either ask them about the road, or if they’re available to go with you leading the way.  If they know the road like they say they do they will slow down when needed and so forth.  This also gives you a chance to see where the road is going as you just watch their vehicle.  You see if you’re about to turn right or left, you see how sharp the corner, etc.

I engaged the services of another driver who works for the same company as I, for this exact reason.  He KNOWS the road.  And know it he does very well.  We set off, and across the UHF radio came different words of advice, slow down here and take care there, call up the bridge at the top of the hill - all of which is fantastic advice. 

We came to a section called Mulligans Bluff where the advice was to slow down to about 80, and take it easy.  Sure.  I could handle that until I deployed the brakes which when travelling down hill were a little better than the disc brakes on the trailers I had. 

Newton’s first law came to play and I had only enough to slow me down to 90-95km/h.  It swept right, and then nipped into a tight set of S-Bends, followed by another quick right hander and then up the hill.  With a rock face about 2 feet from the roadway to my left and a armco railing on the right hand side of the road about the same distance, I was indeed way too fast for this manoeuvre, or so I thought.  The only thing left to do was to get off the brakes at the start of the first corner and feed the gas in speeding me. 

Now you might think that was a pretty stupid thing to do accelerate when I was already going too fast for these bends, but believe me in order to be stable through such a quick right - left - right combination it’s the only way this truck was going to stand up to it.  After starting the first right hander, it was just a case of hang on and hope my judgement was right. 

And well, I did live through it however, many don’t.  With about enough room on either side of the truck to put a cigarette lighter in, I started the climb, and started to scratch my head as to how I didn’t hit the guard rail and be flung face first into bloody big rock.

I stopped at the top of the range to gather my thoughts and have a well deserved smoke break and continued on.  I know what some people will be thinking “You idiot” and you’re right.  However, with that driver ahead of me I didn’t hit that rock.  I was able to get some speed down before entering the aforementioned bends.  If I hadn’t asked for that advice and tried at least to put the advice into practice then most certainly I could be awaiting the discharge from hospital or even worse.

The moral of this story?  Some might say it just proves that I’m not exempt from being human.  Some might also say to back off earlier.  But I say don’t be afraid to stop and ask someone for some advice.  Even if it’s a truckie, chances are we may just have travelled the road.  After allthe only stupid question is the one that is never asked!!

The next point that I think is also worth mentioning, is take your time to look around and absorb what it is that you see when on unfamiliar roads.  Don’t think that the approaching hill is just another hill because it might surprise you.  I know I ramble on about the observation thing, but look out. 

When approaching corners have a good look, find where the road leads to and you may well see another vehicle that wouldn’t have seen normally.  When at night - I have covered this in the past - look at the reflectors and remember the fewer you see the sharper the bend.  Another little hint too on the reflector thing.  Did you know that the red reflectors are always on the left and white are always on the right?  This is symbolical of tail lights (red) and headlights (white).  Another good one for if it’s foggy out there.  Look for the red ones and stick with them.  Anyway off to the lovely world of slumber in preparation for another journey to a destination unknown. Take care and safe and happy motoring.

Chris Cartwright
Young Australian Truck Driver Competition, 2007 National Finalist

Howdy folks. Well, today is (current at time of writing this edition) Friday. What a ripper of a day this one is - the end of the working week for most. It’s a time for a few ales at the local watering hole and maybe even meeting someone new. That someone new like all people have vast experiences in life.

Allow me in this Edition 15, to share a few of mine, in the form of a small auto-biography.   I entered the workforce when I was 15 going on 16 at a McDonalds store. I thought holy crap, my first job. What am I going to spend all this money I would be making on? After nervously stumbling through the interview I was granted the job. Time for an induction and a little bit of training.

That little bit of training allowed me to see what the job entailed.  It also let my prospective employer see if I was going to be suited to the job. He gauged my performance on - not only my performance on the night - but also the word of the training co-ordinator. I spent 4 years flipping burgers and eventually ended up as a crew trainer and a team leader.

We - as crew trainers - had expectations placed upon us to perform our duties as it were expected. Reasons for this were of importance to the general public as we were handling their food. We needed good communication skills - that means listening as well as talking, we needed to be team players as well, using each other to reach a specific goal, after all there is no I in TEAM.

If a policy or procedure had changed it was our responsibility to make sure that ALL people that needed to know were informed of the change. If we neglected to do our job, then our ‘butts’ were on the line. I don’t mean we could face the sack but serious disciplinary action may have been taken.

After I left Mcdonalds I started a career in the security industry. The security industry was such a change I remember it was just chalk and cheese. On one hand I was working in a high pressure job that required perfection in everything we did and then I was working for an industry where perfection was still paramount but the pressure was no longer there.

We did our job to the best of our ability and overcame any situation by using the resources that were made available to us. This might be just as simple as calling someone a cab, all the way serious conflict resolution and maintenance of the peace. The place where I was working at the time I remember being called to a domestic dispute that was occurring near the employer family area.

When I arrived I thought ‘what the hell am I going to do with this one?’ The answer? I walked up and said “excuse me, please forgive my rude interruption but I just I had an urge to say frog to someone. So…erm…Frog.” I walked off at this point much to the horror of the onlookers. A lady approached me and asked me if I were going to do something about it. My reply was simply “watch this.” With that the two people that were arguing had become so distracted from what I had said that they had forgotten for a moment what it was they were arguing about.

Soon after, I started driving trucks. I first started with an express freight company driving a little rigid around the town and also down to Melbourne. This job didn’t last long for numerous reasons which I won’t elaborate on, but it was my stepping stone to my career driving the vehicle that I do now. I was working for a bloke that was a sub-contractor to a local company for 3 months while he went to snowfields as he is snow maker. He showed me the job, handed me the keys and said “it’s your truck, I’m just paying the bills. Any problems handle them however you like but don’t hesitate to contact me for advice.” One of the best blokes I have ever worked for!

I came to end up at the age of 22 working for the general freight company with which he sub-contracted to. Let me share with you now, an experience of over 12 months that will remain with me forever. I became frustrated at how things were too slow. It was taking nearly 5 hours to load a single semi-trailer combination in the Melbourne depot. It was then off to Bendigo to unload and then try to be at a little place called Tarpeena in South Australia just north of Mount Gambier by first thing in the morning.

Finally, I quit leaving the truck in Melbourne with no driver and a load on the trailer destined for my hometown at the time approx 2 hours north on the 39. I was soon in the doghouse at work and at home as we now had our first child on the way and no job to fulfill the bills that were soon to be upon us. I thought to myself “I can’t win. I’m driving all day and all night, sometimes on the brink of falling asleep behind the wheel and I can’t take that anymore.” But on the other hand it was a way of paying the bills. I made a few apologetic phone calls and went back only to pushed even harder. I was also a person that had a hard time saying no just like our friend MC DRIVER - until 1 night when I nearly sent my single semi into the path of an oncoming B-Double.

I soon began to realise that the freight we were carting just wasn’t worth what I was doing to myself. When the company fell into the hands of the receivers it was a blessing in disguise. Poetic justice I thought, but no job once again. I went on the look for another job and was eventually given a trial night working for an abattoir.

I wasn’t able to physically handle the job of meat lumping so I started driving for another company that carried a lot of hanging meat.  Luckily I didn’t have to touch a thing until the van was empty. I washed it out and then dropped that trailer off at an express freight company in Melbourne, to be loaded, picked up another one already done and set off for home.

Soon after, I went back to security as I had had the unfortunate happening of being involved in an accident that I still to this day don’t know how I didn’t kill anyone. I was involved in an accident much the same as the one featured on ACA. When I had finally stopped the truck still with the car on the front of truck the driver got out, and so did a pregnant woman, two other adult males, and a little kid. I had just pushed this car sideways on the front of my truck for about 300m after I clipped it in the rear right hand corner.

This was the sole catalyst for me. I wanted to - from then on - find out what I did wrong and how to see the unseeable. I wanted to know how my vehicle was reacting to my actions. I then wanted to explain to people what exactly I had learnt. I however, ended back driving. Except this time I made my debut into interstate.

I have since driven express, tankers, tippers, and now I am back on general. Through my thoughts whilst on the road, I have come to see different things. I have talked to blokes in truck stops, and on the 2-way radio.

My point to this edition is subliminal but I hope that it will fall into place. I see our industry as very professional. I see our industry at the mercy of the end user. I used to push myself with the thought that that the freight had to be on the doorstep of the customer the very next morning.

We are all at some point end users. We all want to be able to walk into a shop and buy the very thing that we want without delay. If you have ever worked as a sales assistant, like Mcdonalds for example, if you keep the customer waiting they say such things like “it’s a fast food restaurant and I have to wait? If I wanted to wait I’d have gone else where.” If we look at MC DRIVER’s letter :-

“The industry is dangerously price driven.” What industry isn’t price driven ?? We as end users want the best possible price for the goods/services we consume.

“Take these following factors into account ….. log book, allowable working time, other road users with inconsistent speed eating into your limited working time, road works eating into your limited working time, loading and unloading delays and so on. I write from experience, it’s not worth your time! The authorities know this!”

This comment I would agree to if I were still 22. But as I have said in past emails with regard to other road users travelling at slower speeds the difference in time is negligible. Even if they were only travelling at 80km/h you’re not going to be held up by an hour behind this vehicle and at 100km/h that’s 12 minutes, less at slower speeds such as through towns. Road works are similar but can hold you up a little more in time if you have need to stop dead.

That’s only a small amount of things that I could examine. The point is in this edition we ALL have a choice. We have a choice to slow down, we have a choice in everything we do. Some of us are just a little blind to see it until it’s too late. So ask yourself this question next time you’re out there on the roads, what will my choice be today?  Safe and happy motoring.

Chris Cartwright
Young Australian Truck Driver 2007, National Finalist.

 

Edition 14

Cornering and Braking

Hiya again folks. Edition 14 hot off the press! In my last edition I spoke a little about how the body reacts to certain stressful conditions. Who’d have thought that the human body could play such a dramatic role in driving? Okay now for a scenario …..

What happens when you get to that fork in the road where you know you’re too tired to keep going? Do you jettison off down the road anyway or do you have the conviction to say enough is enough and have a sleep? If you do set off and you don’t notice the fatigue starting to progress what is the likely outcome?

I think we’ve all heard in the news and seen some of the footage. Not a pretty sight I might add. Definitely not one that I would wish to become a regular attendant to. I’ve been to 1 fatal and that is enough. Not representing anyone or any particular group just the girlfriend at the time was in the fire brigade. Anyway I’m starting to get sidetracked as I do.

If you wake up and you are heading for that blasted tree that walks out in front of you, you get the manure scared out of you. Because you’ve reached that hypervigilant stage you go for the brakes and push back from the steering wheel, turning your head away from the impact. The only thing is, you’ve lost the co-ordination to take your foot off the accelerator and put it on the brake pedal. You’ve sped up to hit the tree. If you do make it on the brake pedal and you give that pedal a real workout what happens? Chances are you are going to slide. Why?

Would people agree with the statement that brakes only stop the wheels from turning? Lets explore this statement a little. When we’re taught to drive somehow we assume that when you press on the brake pedal you’re stopping the car, but nothing could be further from the truth. When we put our foot on the brake we are basically squeezing two pads onto a metal surface to create friction (other than just the normal contact friction between our tyres and the road) and hence that friction is how the wheels stop. It’s also the sole reason why we skid.

Try to imagine you’re gripping a Maccas burger and then squeezing. The burger being what’s called a disc or rotor and your hands are the brake pads. And just to clear a little something up to, your tyres are secured directly to the rotor and it’s the rotor that spins on our axle. For the purpose of this exercise we’ll assume we’re travelling at 100km/h. When we throw the brakes out to slow down, the body of our car still maintains 100km/h. All the weight of the car body plus what is in the car moves forward. This puts added weight toward the front of the car. This weight has to be dispersed somehow and this why we get the dipping of the nose of our car in a downward direction - because our suspension is the only part that has give in it and it’s allowed to move, up and down.

What this brings is the problem that we now don’t have as much weight on the back of our car. This brings me to my next point. How many of us have arrived at a corner that we thought we could take at 100km/h but once half way around it realised it was a little bit of a bad idea and reached for the brakes? We end up with weight being concentrated on 1 of the front wheels. Let’s use a right hand corner as an example. At the same time you’re moving the weight forward while under brakes, you’re shifting the gross weight of your car to the left thanks to the right hand corner.

This means we are exerting excessive pressure onto our front left hand wheel. This is one cause of rollover during a corner. It’s also a very good way of having your rear axle let go of the pavement and you end up in a fish tail situation and headed for the car or truck coming the other way.

So next time you need to take some speed off or you need to stop in a big hurry do it in a straight line. This will give you better grip on the road as the weight distribution on the front end will be even and you will stop quicker. Also don’t allow the vehicle to skid as you will lengthen your stopping distance. If you’re facing a corner that you’re unsure about then get the speed off BEFORE the corner on the straight bit and then gently accelerate as I have said in past emails.

This is also especially important when driving in snow, brake before the corner that way you will keep the weight centred and have less chance of sliding somewhere you hadn’t intended to slide to. Righto I’ve dribbled on enough so till next time, safe and happy motoring.

Chris Cartwright - (National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007)

 

Edition 13

DRIVER RESPONSE

Howdy folks, back for the New Year with some more of my Stephen King novel sized emails. I am of course hoping everyone had a good time over the Christmas/New Year period? I don’t really recall much of it as I arrived back in the door from Adelaide at 8:30am on Christmas Day just as the kids were getting out of bed. My stint in the ‘dog house’ was very pleasingly avoided. I then left Boxing Day for Brisbane to unload then down to Sydney where I slept on my way to load and back home.

May I just say with the sights I saw in Ballina I must say it’s surprising I haven’t one bad word to say about road user behavior. Even on Sesame St (Hume Hwy) everyone was very patient and obliging and to those who were, I dip my hat and say a very big THANK YOU.

It’s funny though over the Christmas/New Year period we eat lots, drink lots and also possibly put on a couple of kilos. My wife said to me just recently that she’d like me to have 6 pack abs. My reply was “I have the whole keg, which is more than a mere 6 pack!!” Of course she does accept me for my “curves” hahahaha which brings us onto our lovely topic of conversation for (you guessed it) EDITION 13. Firstly though Dave please correct me if anything I say is wrong – please as I am relying on my memory here and I haven’t covered this for a while.

The human body is an intensely amazing thing. If we were to draw a line from head to toe perfectly down the middle we see that everything on the left side is exactly the same as the right side - just mirrored. There are of course different duties our 2 sides of the brain do and we only have 1 liver and heart but on the basics we’re just a mirror image.

Having a basic understanding of how our body works we can then start to establish what we are capable of. Take our brain for example. That is just like the CPU in the computer I am using. It processes many pieces of information per second. We have sensors like our eyes, our tongue etc. The brain computes this information and adjusts certain re-actions to the different information that our sensors send it.

The brain even knows when it’s under threat of being terminated. This in turn creates a response. Usually we know it as a fight or flight response. Have you ever been in a situation whereby you get this feeling of slow motion?

Do you notice also that you have lost some of your vision? What about those people that just freeze? They feel as though they have concrete boots. The next thing you tend to notice will be your heart about to launch out the front of your chest. If you get the chance to suffer this feeling try and write your name, I bet you can’t. All of the above signs are due to a condition called HYPER VIGILANCE.

It’s where your brain has perceived that it’s under threat of extinction. Without you knowing about it, little glands attached to your Kidneys called ADRENAL Glands shoot a chemical into your blood called ADRENALINE. This lovely chemical is the reason why your heart beats so hard and fast. It’s getting your muscles a good supply of blood to act. Whether it be fighting the threat or simply running like a Bondi tram, your body needs to get food to the muscles in order for them to endure whatever it is that you will do.

When you’re resting, your heart rate may very well decline to around the 60-70 or less beats per minute. Under exercise it can be doing possibly nearly 150-160 beats per minute (BPM) depending on your level of fitness and the level of exertion.

When you get a fright and your adrenal glands go squirt, your heart rate can soar upwards of 220 BPM. With this level of stress on your body you lose both fine and complex motor skills. You also get this tunnel vision that seems to just hone in on the threat. Your body has fine-tuned you. Your hearing and vision is heightened, your sense of smell heightened and you only have gross motor skills, which allows you to only push or pull.

You have lost all co-ordination under this condition to even simply hold a pen or even write your name which is also - I might add - why you tend to have a memory lapse of stressful events.

Now I am hearing the question what has all of this got to do with road safety? Could you imagine if you were to fall asleep behind the wheel wake up in the rough and have your heart rate hit 220+ bpm? If you have only the ability to push or pull do you think you have the co-ordination to just simply turn the wheel about 1/2″ to the right and avoid the tree? What about if a vehicle were to be on your side of the road?

Under this condition you become a real and impending threat to yourself and the others you may have in the car. Any rational though process goes right out of the window.

When I did my security license we needed to learn on a basic level how the body works in order to shut it down - to regain control of an out of control patron. Same goes for the road. By understanding on a very basic level how your body works you can also understand how to control it in a scenario that may cause a HYPER VIGILANT response. The likes of formula 1 racing drivers have mastered this art ……

By being able to control our heart rate we can think clearly, have complete co-ordination and a rational thought process and avoid that tree. I hope I haven’t left too many people for dead on this one - pardon the pun. I will return with another novel soon. Till next time safe and happy motoring.

Chris Cartwright - (National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007)

Edition 12

DRIVING IN THE WET

Howdy again folks. We are currently experiencing some of the worst climate conditions our country has seen in many years. One minute, it’s as dry as the back of your throat before going to the pub for a well earned beverage - the next - wetter than Noah’s ark. I’m not going to embark on a meteorology lesson as I know very little about it, however I think one thing that I have unknowingly neglected to mention is how all of this can affect us out on the roads.

We as road users can drive through many different conditions in a day. I think we’ve all seen it. We wake up in the morning and it’s sunny but by lunch time we’re trying to wade back to work in a torrential dow pour of rain, hail, and goodness knows what. We as drivers are expected to know how to handle our vehicles in these conditions. So today we’re going to venture into “wanker lights” aka fog lights, and we’re also going to discuss exactly what happens to your tyres when it rains and also what we can expect from the roads after a dry spell.

Firstly lets have a look at tyres. This piece of rubber plays a major role in how our vehicle reacts to - not just our inputs from the steering and two pedals - but also environmental conditions.

They are the be all and end all of us simply staying on the road. If you look closely at your tyres you see that you have little grooves in the tread. To many of us it’s there for grip. But nothing could be further from the truth. The best grip is achieved by maximizing the amount of surface area in contact with the road. Based on this theory our tyres should look as bald as my head!! The problem then exists with rain.

If it were to rain while we had these very bald tyres on our car we would find no grip at all and would look pretty similar to an ice-skating queen. To come to an explanation we need to understand a little basic chemistry, or is it physics - I’m really not sure.

If you were to pour yourself a glass of water and then look at the liquid touching the edges of the glass what do you notice? Does it curve up slightly? Yep. Ok what causes that is surface tension. Exactly the same reason as to why it hurts to slap the water in a pool with an open hand and it doesn’t if you submerge your hand slowly. What we have is the surface tension holding the particles of water over the surface of the road much like cling wrap over your food that you put in your fridge.

Now getting back to the grooves in your tyres. These grooves in your tyres are designed to draw water into them and throw them out the side of the tyre - hence we have road spray. These grooves you could say are pumping the water out from underneath the tyre. This eliminates that water between our tyres and the road and prevent you slipping and sliding all over the place.

Some of you may have heard of the term AQUAPLANING. This is a condition whereby your little grooves in your tyres are pumping away and become overrun with water. They’re already full and can’t pump that water out the side. What then happens is the vehicle actually lifts up and skates along the top of the water on the road and so you are AQUAPLANING.

A little word of advice on this, the wider the tyre the more chance you have of aquaplaning. The reason for this is simply your spreading the weight of your vehicle over a wider contact surface and it becomes lighter in a weird sense. An example of this is a bed of nails. You would impale yourself on just one nail whereas a bed of them each nail bears some of the weight and hence you’re not impaled. A little bit of useless information for you all.

After a dry spell we have a build up of dust, oil, grease, diesel and other things that sit on the road - even though it doesn’t change colour. When we have a downpour after a dry spell all of this mixes with the water and the dust becomes mud. Mix that with the other petroleum based products it becomes exceptionally greasy. You will find it increasingly hard to maintain control of the front end of the vehicle when this happens.

Having this understanding you can begin to appreciate why it is that the police, and ambos and SES all take their turn in telling people to slow down and drive to the conditions.

Now on to the aforementioned “wanker lights”, aka fog lights. We see so many of these people driving at night lights on low beam with these two other lights on. It is one of the biggest frustrations at night when you have a car coming into view - from the front or back - that is equipped with the brighter (gas displacement I believe they’re called) lights and also fog lights ablaze. The following passage is taken from the ROAD TRANSPORT (SAFETY AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT) (ROAD RULES) REGULATION 1999. Under REG 55 it states :-

A person must not cause or permit: (a) any fog light affixed to a motor vehicle on a road to be lighted except in fog, mist or under other atmospheric conditions that restrict visibility ….. Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units.

I wish to draw your attention to the fact that this is only a small clip taken from that regulation. The rest of the regulation is not relevant to this topic as it denotes to hazard lights and other lights non-specific to fog lights. In the above passage it is illegal to have these fog lamps lit on a clear night. Other forms of atmospheric conditions that restrict visibility are smoke, dust, rain, etc. Do you also notice that it denotes to fog lights. This is a key element in this point because it also relates to the use of REAR fog lights. Seeing it doesn’t stipulate front or rear facing it is assumed that it relates to ANY FOG LAMP attached to your vehicle. Be it front facing or rearward facing. The following is taken from the CRIMES (SENTENCING PROCEDURE) ACT 1999 - SECT 17. This is how you can work out the maximum fine.

Penalty units - 17 Penalty units

Unless the contrary intention appears, a reference in any Act or statutory rule to a number of penalty units (whether fractional or whole) is taken to be a reference to an amount of money equal to the amount obtained by multiplying $110 by that number of penalty units.

Using the above definition, you could be risking $2200. This is 20 x $110 = $2200. I must acknowledge though it is a MAXIMUM value only and may not be the actual fine.

For those of you who wish to draw attention to them being AUXILIARY DRIVING LAMPS then I am led to believe your vehicle is un-roadworthy as auxiliary driving lamps are only allowed to be activated by your high beam switch, so checking your manufacturer’s description is vital. Driving lights are also considered auxiliary lights I believe. Anyway till next time folk’s happy motoring and keep it safe.

Chris Cartwright - (National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007)

Edition 11

SILLY SEASON SURVIVAL GUIDE

Hiya again folks – Edition 11 here - just in time for the Christmas rush. I think it would be a nice time to revise previous editions to compile somewhat of a survival guide for the silly season as I like to call it.

Let’s look firstly at observation. Don’t forget over the course of your travels this Christmas to ensure that you’re looking. Keep your eyes moving. When on a freeway ensure the opposite direction traffic are traveling in their lanes. This will prevent you from colliding with someone possibly about to leave their side of the road and onto yours.

When on the open road let’s not forget to look for indicators to intersecting roads - these can be power lines, lines of trees which can also indicate a driveway access. Large amounts of dust in the air can also indicate a dirt road that has been recently traveled on. Take note of paddocks. If you see stock in those paddocks have a look at the fencing. Poor fence integrity can indicate that stock may be on the road.

When traveling in built up areas, look under vehicles that are parked along the side of the road to see if there is someone is in front of the vehicle (especially handy to spot a little person).

Last but not least mirrors. Be sure to be addressing this one as often as you can as the best way to effect evasive action in a safe manner is to know where all traffic is at all times. Just a little advice on this one too - DON’T DWELL on what you see. You need to be aware of where the traffic is not let it affect you.

If you do notice someone too close to you (bearing in mind that objects in the mirror appear to be closer than they are) DON’T PANIC. Maintain your position and speed on the road.

Ignore the sight you have seen in the mirror. I say to ignore what you see in the mirror for 1 simple reason. So you don’t become flustered/scared/reactive. Once you have become flustered and you get that claustrophobic feeling you have lost control of the situation. Simply take a deep breath to maintain a low heart rate. Some of you may wonder why I say to maintain a low heart rate.

without too much detail (as I will elaborate in a later email) it is with an elevated heart rate you begin to lose your FINE AND COMPLEX MOTOR skills. Once that occurs, you only have the ability to push and pull so any decision making processes have gone out the window and you become a liability to your passengers in the car as well as other around you.

Okay now for those who are planning to travel with a caravan. I am of the understanding that you guys travel and 80-90km/h for the sole purpose of fuel economy. No argument from me - the more fuel you save you more time you have on the road or in the pub whichever you prefer.

A few words of advice, it has been echoed by Indy. If you notice someone traveling behind you, don’t throw out the anchors and dive off the road. You run the risk of becoming victim to the dreaded jack-knife and subsequent roll over. Simply wait for the overtaking vehicle to merge to the right hand lane and maintain your position on the road and simply lift your foot off the accelerator. Just remember you’re no WIDER than 2.5m so you’re not going to collide with that vehicle as long as you stay inside your lane parameters.

When cornering with any trailer/caravan ensure that you keep pressure on the tow ball, this will ensure that you don’t roll over and it will make your caravan/trailer trail in the straight line. It will even make the towing vehicle feel a lot more stable. Just remember the trailer doesn’t know left and right, it only recognizes forwards and backwards so if you hit a soft patch of gravel the only thing the trailer/caravan is going to do is push the back of the towing vehicle forward.

This means that the left side of your car is rapidly decelerating due to the extra drag caused by the gravel. This then turns the car to the left and your caravan/trailer WILL push your car into a sideways position quicker than you realize.

Next we have issue of self control. I won’t dwell on this issue as it speaks for itself. Just because others are going around you doesn’t make it right to speed up. If you are leaving later than expected don’t try to make up time. You simply won’t. Take the opportunity to ring ahead and explain that you have been held up. Honesty is the best policy and caravan parks/hotels/motels will all appreciate the phone call and try to work around the delay by means of usually leaving a key in a night box or even staying back later to accommodate you. After all, they want your money.

Over the course of the Christmas period it has to be understood that there will be more vehicles on the road than maybe there would be normally. Ensure you indicate properly. Don’t just give 2 flashes and the changing of lanes is complete. Put your signal on if you are caught in a pack of vehicles and just simply wait.

More often than not I have done this in the B-Double I drive and most of the time you will always find 1 person that will give you the chance to complete your maneuver. It doesn’t matter how long your indicator is on when changing lanes - it gives people a chance to recognize your intentions and accommodate you as best they can. On a duel carriage way road like a freeway or other similar highway just remember good rule of thumb is not to return to the left hand lane until you see the entire front of the vehicle in your LEFT HAND SIDE MIRROR.

This will usually give the vehicle you have overtaken plenty of room while you are pulling away from them. If you are a vehicle being overtaken wait for the other vehicle to move to the right hand lane and simply lift your foot. This will make the maneuver quicker and you can get back to relaxing and it won’t create packs of congestion along the highways.

If it is a heavy vehicle like me in my b-double then after I am clear of your vehicle a quick spray on high beam is appreciated. This lets me know that I can come back to the left lane without running you off the road!!

The next thing that needs to be addressed is forward planning. With the above congestion of traffic, forward planning is vital. Take a map with you and plan your breaks. When in the city’s plan to be in your left hand lane to exit about 3-5 kms before the exit. This way you’re already there and it may just prevent that flustered feeling you get when your partner is abusing you for getting them lost!!

We are nearly done believe me. I think the last topic of conversation we need to address is the lovely tailgating issue. The sole purpose the coast to coast web site was founded.

Me and my wife were traveling home from picking me up from the depot and were traveling at about 105 km/h. My wife driving didn’t see the dog on the other side of a bridge. We hit and killed that dog, and my wife was quite shocked to be informed that she hadn’t started to brake until AFTER the collision with the animal. This is the same with tailgating.

At a velocity of 28 metres per second (100km/h) you have traveled approximately 84 metres before your vehicle starts to slow down. That’s 3 seconds. Allowing in my B-double approx. 200 metres to safely come to a complete halt then that’s equivalent of about 8 seconds I need to allow. Same goes with cars. Bet on an even 100m braking distance and then add 3 seconds and that’s how far you should be behind the vehicle in front.

One last quick thing before I go, fatigue. Don’t try to be a hero and overnight it to your destination. Pull over and visit the driver reviver stops for a free cup of tea/coffee and a biscuit. Have a walk around and if need be have a sleep. You never know you may just bump into me, as I am usually there in my half an hour rest stops, handing out some tips for driving and interacting with other vehicles. Don’t be afraid to say hello and have a talk to me about some of the things you have seen along your journey. Quite often they contain a valuable lesson for all. Until next time safe and happy motoring. Happy Christmas to those who are not regulars to this site.

Chris Cartwright - (National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007)

Edition 10

DRIVER ATTITUDE

Hiya again folks. Edition 10. By gees ….. its been many of words since my first ones! If, through these words I can just have an impact on just one person, then I have come far. The hardest thing in life sometimes is being able to communicate to others the information and knowledge that is kept in the vault upstairs. Some of us can sit and talk for hours on their life and their experiences.

I had a grandfather who died at the age of 99 two years ago after a long battle with osteopolymialga. He remembered the Titanic going down, both world wars, the great depression and many other life experiences. My grandmother died of leukemia and he watched her just wither away - just as we did with him in the end. Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked again!

It’s funny how we always remember the bad things in life and not take the time to notice the good things that may come as a result of them. We focus on negatives as a society and seem to dwell on why we can’t do something instead of noticing how we can. I’m just as guilty as everyone else. It’s perfectly normal.

I was talking to a colleague when I arrived back from a run to Sydney and we ended up on the topic of the transport industry and how things have changed since he entered. One of those changes have been the enforcement agencies. Like the rest of us they have a job to do. They like to go home at the end of the night in 1 piece if they can.

He made the comment that he “despised” these agencies. I asked him how many bad experiences he had had with the enforcement agencies and his reply was 0. So how does someone become so turned like this? Firstly it was commented that his father used to drive and had had some bad experiences. And this was the key point to his turning toward them - pre-conditioning himself to despise the very people that we as a society rely on to respond if we’re in trouble and this is the point to this edition.

Two problems employers face in this industry is RETENTION and RECRUITMENT of employees. While I admit not everyone is suited for life on the road which ultimately influences retention, it’s the guys like my colleague above who have learnt the attitude that the coppers and RTA are there to make ya life hell” that affects both to an extent.

Who in their right state of mind would take on a job if they were told that there were certain individuals that are there to remove as many trucks off the road as possible? Which - may I add - they’re not there to do! They are there doing a job that society has asked them to do - more of that later though.

The point is that if you have a bad experience you will tell ten people. Those ten people will tell another ten people and before you know it we have single handedly manifested a culture of arrogance and intolerance of that particular group. Granted some drivers in our industry have been affected by an over zealous enforcement officer at some point in their career and other drivers just simply pass on their experiences onto the younger folk as they retire and hence, we have a problem then with recruitment.

With some of the young drivers entering the industry (and it is only a minority) having been exposed to this mind set they instantly think the worst when are intercepted. Then sub-consciously that comes out in the way they treat the unsuspecting officer and usually end up being fined for something that would have normally been overlooked simply because of their attitude and so the vicious circle continues.

Funny thing is though ….. it’s not unlike the fear some car drivers have of trucks even though they haven’t had a bad experience personally with a truck. It has been instilled into them that trucks are big and scary and they carry this with them. They don’t have any experience when dealing with them but they know of someone who knows someone that had a bad encounter with a truck.

This then brings us onto a subject that is the common ground between the two groups of drivers. TRAINING. As I and others (including John Mc and Indy) have said that with the right training, anything is possible. It may not happen in a hurry but like the shampoo advertisement, it will happen. We just need to remember to keep ourselves open to learning something new.

I know this email has been somewhat a little heavy, but the fact is that sometimes we as different groups, are our own worst enemy. Till next time folks safe and happy motoring!

Chris Cartwright - (National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007)

Edition 9

ONE SIZE FITS ALL ROAD LAW

Hiya again folks. I’ve been scratching my head as to what to write about. Problem is ….. there’s just so much to tell and very little time in the week to construct it!

Last week, I was pleasured to be intercepted by the RTA at Hay. With my tongue in cheek I claimed harassment and when they saw I had been pulled over three times in the past 24 hours they had a little chuckle with me. We arrived on the topic of caravaners and believe me these two gentlemen definitely earned my respect. One asked me what it was that us truckies wanted from caravans as he was working on a little project of his own for educating our baby booming travelers.

I simply replied with “tell em to maintain their line and speed until we reach the right hand lane. Once we are there the best to be done is simply lift the right boot slightly. We don’t need caravanners throwing out the anchors and diving off the road to force our maneuver. As Indy has indicated in past posts we’ll get past you ….. just let us make the decision as to when.

Quite often I see people with the very purest of intentions doing nothing but throwing rocks at me. That alone doesn’t bother me ….. I don’t own the truck but what does bother me is the fact that when you drive off the road when towing anything you run the risk of hitting a patch of soft gravel. When you hit soft dirt/gravel it can act like a puddle of water. I think we’ve all been driving down our local roads and found a line of water and not intentionally driven through it and water gets sprayed everywhere.

Do you also notice the pull on the steering wheel? Well, lets revisit some physics. That pulling on the steering wheel is the grooves in your tyres pumping the water out. This increases drag on that side, thus that pulling characteristic. Now lets assume it’s dry. Your tyres won’t be pumping rocks out but it will have the same pulling effect simply because it’s increases the friction between your tyres and the road surface and hence has the exact same effect. This then in turn creates the left side of the vehicle to travel slower than the right, and thus heads you further into the scrub.

Now you hook up a caravan. The caravan pushes your tow ball straight ahead and to state the obvious your tow bar is connected to the back of the vehicle. Now if the front of your car is going left into the scrub and the back of your car is being pushed straight ahead, then congratulations you’re more than halfway to rolling the van.

Before that occurs however we need to suffer a jack-knife. For those who don’t know, a jack-knife is simply when the A-frame on your trailer/caravan meets the side of your car. Not exactly my idea of an ideal trip!! This alone causes horrendous damage to your vehicle. As the van continues on and ends up and that point where your vehicle and the van cannot articulate any further it only goes one way ….. UPSIDE DOWN.

Then as Nitro mentioned YOU will need a change of jocks - that is of course if you haven’t been slammed roof first into a tree and you have a koala sitting in your neck. This sounds extremely graphic and I do apologize if it makes you feel a little sick but the cold hard reality is by diving off the side of the road, you run the risk of putting yourself in that very situation.

Now to change course slightly but I will come back to the above situation. About 5 years ago I was traveling west on the Great Western Highway on my way to visit Oberon. I was once again talking to the RTA personnel running the weighbridge at Mt Boyce. I asked them to define (as per the courts definition) a professional driver …..

A professional driver is someone whom is more highly trained, more highly skilled and more highly experienced on the roads was his reply. Truck drivers are seen as professional drivers.

I then asked him to define as per the courts the definition of an amateur driver. The exact opposite was his reply and the average car driver are seen to be amateur drivers. He then asked me why it was I wanted to know. My reply was “who in their right state of mind then, would give someone who is deemed less skilled, less experienced and less trained 10km/h extra speed on most major highways, unregulated driving hours, an un-speed limited vehicle and a blood alcohol concentration of .05?” He didn’t really have an answer for that but assured me he agreed.

Now to revisit the aforementioned situation, don’t people think that it’s about time we introduced a graduated licensing system? Just like the trucks, have an endorsement to tow, a logbook to regulate driving hours and help manage fatigue, and a complete ZERO TOLERANCE approach to being under the influence of DRUGS OR ALCOHOL.

Now my critics would say how would you control the logbook. Quite simply 100km radius from the registered address of the vehicle would be considered as your starting point unless otherwise documented in your logbook. As for speed limiting vehicles I already believe they’re talking about it in Victoria. Anyway I think I should get going until next time when I return with edition 10. Good luck all and safe motoring.

Chris Cartwright - (National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007)

Edition 8

OBSERVATION

Hiya again folks. Firstly I must apologise to my avid readers. I haven’t been particularly well of late with some time spent in the operating theatre however all is well again now.

About 3 weeks ago, I was traveling between Shepparton and Mooroopna along the Peter Ross Edwards causeway and ya know what? I found not one vehicle I could pick on and actually two 2 cars I must give credit to! They both waited for me to enter a roundabout and make my turn while another patiently awaited me to change lanes on the aforementioned road. Well done to those two drivers. It must be said however, that I didn’t expect to be given special treatment. In both instances I was supposed to give way to these folks but their courteousness allowed very smooth traffic flow so a big thank you goes out to them.

My hospitalisation went well, and all tests have come back clear. Speaking of hospitals ….. I was surprised that the hospital now holds you for two hours after you’re up walking around for observation. I think that’s fantastic especially when free food is on offer after a 16 hour fasting period.

The medical staff can tell a lot about someone in two hours observing their behavior and vital signs. Much the same as we can tell a lot about situations out on the road by simply taking on board some simple observations and so today I am drawing our attention to observation. I know I have touched on it in the past but I think it’s time for a little more detail.

If I were to ask if you drive different in the city as compared to the country ….. you’d probably say yes. If I then asked if you were aware of the difference between highway/freeway driving and just open road highway driving would you say the same thing? If I were to ask you how you would spot a three-year-old walking in between cars could you?

Up until about two maybe more years ago I couldn’t see a three year old in between parked cars but by simply taking a step back and identifying the dangers we can then see from where our advantages come. This may sound a little a confusing but it will fall into place TRUST ME!!

Firstly let’s have a look at the difference between freeway/highway driving and open road/ highway driving. When you burn on down the road and you notice multi-lanes and a grassed area in the middle, you notice the speed limit has usually increased to 110kmh and you notice on ramps and off ramps - this is a freeway - but that’s just the start of it.

Have you ever wondered what that green sign with the white X on it is? It’s alerting to a crossover point. Most of these however are reserved for Police, RTA, and other emergency service vehicles and are NOT provided for the Joe Bloggs who has missed his exit.

Freeways also have the tendency to breed speeders because of the fact that the traffic is only traveling in one direction so cruise control is a very favorable option. Just a quick question about how we all drive on freeways. How many of you notice what’s happening on the other side of the road?

Some time ago a person (in Melbourne I think??) was killed by a bouncing tyre that had come loose off a truck. Now on the stretch of road concerned there were no trees in the middle of the freeway. How did he not see this?? He had the same tunnel vision that we all suffer from where we look straight ahead because that’s where we are going. Had he been scanning over BOTH sides of the freeway he may very well have seen this tyre dislodge - I emphasise MAY.

Lesson here is that just because there is about 25m separating northbound and southbound traffic it doesn’t mean they don’t count.

How many times have we driven in the country ….. we burn on down the road thinking “aint much out here to see.” I’m guilty of that however when we look more closely we can identify – for example - ways of seeing a driveway. Lines of trees are a good one. Most wild trees aren’t planted in a straight line so possibly we have a hidden driveway that we haven’t seen yet.

Power lines, now these are magic. Every house needs power so if you see a line of poles then you see one line running perpendicular to that line ask yourself where does it go? Chances are it might just be a small road or once again a driveway. Dirt roads are also a nice one, as if a car or truck is traveling you normally see a rooster tail of dust emanating from the rear of the vehicle. When you’re driving down the road also take notice if the paddocks you’re passing have stock in them. If they do then we need to make sure that the stock isn’t on the road ahead.

One way we can pretty safely assume to know is to take notice of the condition of the fencing. If it looks strong and sturdy, chances are there won’t be any stock outside of that boundary, however leaning down fencing in poor repair could indicate some stock have trodden over the top and are on the side ahead if not on the road itself.

At night we have some more tips. We all notice that we have (I think) white reflectors on the right and red reflectors on the left. If you’re driving down an unfamiliar road and you see more of say white than red, then chances are it’s a left hand corner and of course the opposite for the reverse. That only leaves 1 last thing to consider …..

How many of these reflectors can we see? You may ask why we would even bother but it’s quite indicative of how SHARP the corner is. The fewer reflectors you see the sharper that sucker is going to be.

Now to town driving and you’re all aching I know to find out how I can see a small person between cars aren’t you! Well it’s pretty easy. We have two ways ….. we look through parked cars windows. If we see nothing then it could mean there is no-one there or they’re not too tall. One way to see these shorter than the dash people is recognizing one common thing between them and a giant. Can you guess?? It’s their feet. We all touch the ground at some point so by looking underneath the parked cars we can see their feet on the ground and hence we’re already pre-armed to cope with the possibility that they will dart out in front of us.

At night however - I’m still working on that one so due caution is to be exercised.

Now on to one more issue. I heard on the radio about P-plate drivers and new restrictions to be introduced. Namely the restriction of passengers as they’re a distraction. Sorry to those who support this restriction, but it’s BS. The CD player in their car, the shiny billboard are distractions folks, and it solely comes down to self control. If you can’t control yourself then put simply you have no way of being able to control a vehicle on the road competently and professionally.

Anyways that’s all I have time for I’m off to Adelaide tonight, so take care all and be safe. Oh, and one last thing ….. one of the drivers that I work with now has something like 830 reasons why not to tailgate. He was picked up on the Piliga just recently following too close and was intercepted by the highway patrol and given the word with a couple of non-entry in his logbook.

Chris Cartwright - (National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007)

Edition 6

COURTESY CAUSES ECONOMY

Hiya again folks, Chris here with Edition 6. In my last edition I touched on some things lacking with our training system and believe me a touch of the tip is all that it was. In this edition I would like to expose a few observations that I made whilst on holidays in Melbourne over the past week. Before I get started though just to offer young Tim a few home truths.

Some of you may need to block your ears!! Tim I would like to thank you for being living proof that people can survive with a severely challenged IQ. Is it any wonder that you are no longer working as a mechanic!

To start with, your answer to the question “do I pull out in front of semi-trailers?” You seem to conclude that no danger exists with pulling out in front of a semi trailer. How you even came to this conclusion is beyond me! Pulling out in front of ANY heavy vehicle with less than 250m gap puts you seriously in the running for a collision.

As I have said in previous posts 1 second for the driver to acknowledge a problem, 1 second to observe and formulate the plan, 1 second to act, and then in most cases about a delay of 1 second for the brakes to be in effect. By this time 4 seconds has elapsed. At 100 km/h you’re traveling at approx 28m per second. Do the math yourself it equates to 112m. That leaves 138m for braking to a stop if need be.

Whilst I acknowledge that won’t always be necessary it has to be allowed for. This is also somewhat different if the maneuver is undertaken on a duplicated section of highway. Now to address the difference in risk to yourself if a truck pulls out in front of you ….. once again that driver - not just the truckie - but that driver also needs to allow for the same variables. This is exactly why I’m glad you’ve never worked on my truck!

Let’s now look at your comments about speed. I have stated in previous posts and please feel free to look them up on the site that traveling at 10 kms over the limit saves you only 6 minutes per hour.

I see you’re a motorcyclist as well Tim. I don’t suppose that you’re one of these motorcyclists that travel in between vehicles in peak hour? I thought not ….. being a mechanic would make you smarter than that wouldn’t it?

The other issues you draw attention to don’t just exist exclusively in the trucking industry but they also exist for all road users and this my friend is why this site is “watered down?” As for looking out our own driving, it is only then that we see exactly what we as road users fail with day in and day out. It’s about examining ALL road user behavior not just trucks, cars, but yes motorcycles too. I am the first to give credit where credit is due but unfortunately the only credit you have is probably your mortgage.

Now on to my point for writing. I was in Melbourne over the course of the past week and loved every minute of it too I might add. We went to the show and spent way too much money but anyway. On Thursday I was at a shopping centre waiting around outside to absorb some nicotine when I heard the sounding of a car horn. I looked around and saw a driver in a station wagon waving his arms around like he was some sort of puppet on a string.

It was only then that I noticed all he was honking at was simply a pedestrian. I thought to myself we as a society, not just as drivers, have left our morals, manners, and respect for each other at home so it seems. Long gone are the days where we all used to wave in acknowledgement of a courteous act.

You’re probably wondering why I bring this up. Well it’s quite simple really. Along with the basic understanding of the physics of driving do we begin down the journey of good fuel economy. With looking forward to the next set of traffic lights ahead and just leisurely gaining speed, we can save fuel. If we save fuel, then we save money.

But just doing that in itself doesn’t save enough to see a difference to the bill. Backing off and coasting for about 1km before we need to stop also helps the fuel economy. Not only does it save fuel, but instead of using the brakes from 100km/h we more than likely will only need to stop the vehicle from say 80km/h. Also saving us money in maintenance.

It’s amazing how many times in the truck I have just simply crept up to about 20km/h only to stop about 50m ahead and the bloke beside me who revved his car up to the speed limit have met at the very same intersection …..

Anyway off to the long road once again for another week. Happy and safe motoring.

Chris Cartwright - (National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007)

Edition 5

THE IMPORTANCE OF DRIVER EDUCATION

Hiya folks again. Edition 5 already. I must first acknowledge a couple of people before I have my vent. Dave Niven I feel a little rude mate but I have only just realised that it was you writing about the family tragedy. Sorry to hear mate, I’m hoping the others have made it through?

The second person would be Indy. This bloke not only took me under my wing whilst we drove together but made himself available rain, hail or shine to accommodate my questions. And there were others. It is without a doubt blokes like Indy, Whimpy, H, Clarkie, SOC, Bruiser and others I have forgotten who carry the worthwhile torch. These men concentrate more on teaching young blokes like me the ropes rather than just talking about how much they dislike the police, RTA etc. (Please no offence intended to anyone)

I read in one of Indy’s posts that education is the key. As I just mentioned, education from blokes like Indy and others is paramount.

While I was in Sydney to compete in the national finals, March 2007, I had a conversation with two of Sydney’s police. These two gentlemen were more than happy to sit down with and discuss relevant issues pertaining to road safety.

I asked them why we only seem to teach people to pass a test instead competently drive and made the observation that I think that one thing we need to teach people about is how their suspension works - not in any technical way but simply so they’re aware of what is happening when they need to stop in a hurry or why they shouldn’t brake while cornering.

Their reply? We need to ensure that we don’t “over educate” people. I agree with this in principle, however how do people avoid dangerous situations they get themselves into by simply saying don’t do this or don’t do that?

Like with kids ….. you give them a lollypop and tell them not to lick it ….. what do they do? Now I’m not saying that we’re just a bunch of different aged kids but simply lack the understanding of WHY we shouldn’t do certain things. To explain this point I draw people’s attention to a course called BAK. Basic Aeronautical Knowledge – a course that pilots complete before they even jump in a plane.

In this course they learn things like how their altimeter (height gauge) works. Once they have completed their training they can tell you the how, whys, where’s and when’s of it all to the extent of their training. Now this may very well be a little different because cars, trucks, etc, are not going to fall off the road. Or do they?

By understanding the physics of our actions we can then start to predict how our vehicle will potentially respond to the different inputs - much the same as an aircraft. By lowering the left side aileron and raising the right we turn the aircraft to the right. We then counter the different speed the left side of th