12 minute read
Truck Friendly Caravan Road Safety Program
With more RV and Caravan drivers on our regional roads and the large disparity between the ‘many’ laws which must be adhered to by the transport sector but seem non-existent for non-commercial drivers who are often pulling the same size/weight; obviously, problems are going to arise.
Added to this is the difference in demographics. The holidaymakers on one hand… the quiet Australians who have worked hard and deserve to enjoy our country at their leisure and the transport sector who perform a ‘safety’ on every level regulated job under high-pressure to obtain a profit or keep their boss happy.
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This is, however, where the ‘similarity’ between both groups becomes most evident. I don’t think you would ever hear of someone in the transport industry ‘not’ helping a grey nomad if they were in trouble? Likewise, the grey nomads, factoring in the ‘there is the clown in every circus and we have them in the transport industry too. The grey nomads, in general, want to do the right thing by the transport industry. They just don’t have easy and common sense access to the information.
So enter, Queensland caravaner – Ken Wilson.
In 2016, Ken started lobbying Governments, National and State caravan industry associations, heavy transport industry bodies, and companies for support to help provide more education for the caravanning and RV owners.
From this grew the privately funded ‘Truck Friendly Caravan Road Safety Program’.
“There was very limited free education to help both new and experienced caravan and RV owners on general caravan set up, safety and importantly how to interact with other road users including the heavy transport industry,” says Ken.
“We need to remove the ‘us and them’ mentality that currently exists on our highways. As a caravanner myself, I love the lifestyle, however, I have seen many incidents involving caravans, RVs, and trucks on our highways and urban streets that have put lives at risk. Many have been caused by drivers just not understanding how to work with other road users.
According to NTI’s Major Accident Investigation 2020 Report, 80% of fatal accidents, involving both cars and trucks, saw the car was at fault. In non-fatal crashes, cars were at fault 39% of the time.
“Many people today follow the dream of travelling around Australia or going on holidays towing a caravan or driving an RV. This can sometimes mean those behind the wheel have little or no experience in towing a large vehicle on our highways. There are also limited sources of non-sales based caravan safety advice. Whilst drivers may
believe that they are doing the right thing on the road, most have never experienced being inside the cab of a large semi-trailer and seen what impact inexperienced and inappropriate driving can have on our truck drivers and their lives in general,” says Ken.
“The Truck Friendly program is designed to help all drivers understand how they can be friendly to the huge number of truck drivers on our highways so that we all get home safely. We have an “I’m Truck Friendly’ sticker that is placed on the rear of the caravan/RV to alert the transport industry that the driver has read the Truck Friendly Driver Guidelines’ has a UHF radio installed, and is willing to work with you.
The Truck Friendly website carries a wealth of information to assist the holidaymaker to safely set up and operate their vehicle but importantly covers in-depth interaction with trucks and the mistakes that are often made.
This is an excerpt from the type of information available on this website. In this case, being passed by a truck … If you are on a two-way road and you see the truck approaching from behind, call him up on Channel 40 and tell him that, “As soon as you’ve pulled out, I’ll back off”. Do not back off until the whole of the truck is ”out” in an overtaking position. When the rear of the truck has cleared the front of your vehicle, flash your lights or call “You’re clear” on the radio. This will gain a lot of appreciation from the truckie as, if you can slow to 80km/h it will reduce the overtaking time by half, to 10.5 seconds. The truckie will thank you, either by calling on the radio, or by flashing his right turn indicator light, and then the left turn indicator light. At 80km/h, you will be in a better position to handle the forces of the truck’s bow wave, eddy, and following turbulence.
The website is also backed up with the ‘The Truck Friendly Facebook page’ which was launched 15 months ago and has over 4,700 followers and averaging over 70 new followers each week. One post alone reached over 943,000 people, 5,300 likes/loves, and was shared over 7,400 times since late June 2020, with almost all 5,300 comments being extremely positive,” Ken says.
It is obvious, the quality of the information, its accessibility, and finding solutions (caravaners/UHF radios) plus giving them a sticker that is placed on their vehicle to alert the transport industry what they know and that they are willing to work with you is a win-win for everyone.
“I want to get WA on board with this and I welcome anyone who can call me to chat about how they can join the program. It could be as little as letting all your drivers know about the link to the brochure, website, Facebook page to give to any grey nomads that cross your/their paths, or become a collection point or sponsor,” Ken says.
The importance of this program is that the ‘sticker’ has to be earnt. The driving guidelines’ on the website must be read and they must install a UHF radio in their vehicle to receive the sticker.
How the WA Transport industry can help is get let any grey nomads they come across know the website address. We also have a brochure (digital and printed). From there it is the grey nomad's responsibility tap into the resources and gets the radio installed and they can obtain their sticker from Auski Roadhouse in Karijini and New Age in Beckenham,” says Ken.
Ken has been clear in his message to the caravanning population and has done it in a way that is educational and informative. He addresses speed saying, “Being budget and safety-conscious means some caravan drivers travel at slower speeds on the highway but having such a large vehicle combination travelling at lower speeds is a hazard and inconvenience to other road users.
Ken explains to the grey nomads the law in relation to the transport industry and that truck drivers are limited to the amount of time that they are allowed to drive. He explains that ‘time is money’ and the knock-on effect of being caught behind slow drivers that truck drivers can’t pass can have a huge impact on their financial, social, and personal lives.
He acknowledges that many RV drivers and caravanner’s want to help other road users including the truck drivers, but most ‘think they are helping’ when in fact may be making the situation worse by their lack of knowledge and understanding of what is needed.
He educates caravanners on things they may not have thought about such as loading and attaching a heavy caravan to a vehicle that may alter the angle of headlights and the low beam will now look like high beam to oncoming drivers. Ken thinks ahead to advise them that they will not make any friends by clogging up transport UHF channels with long conversations.
“The major benefit of engaging the RV and Caravanning public in this initiative is that by having the ‘I’m Truck Friendly’ large round green sticker on the rear of their vans, transport operators know they are following a vehicle that is happy to work with them.
“Most caravanners don’t communicate with truckies and most truckies don’t communicate with caravanners and this is ‘key’ to fix the issue.” Says Ken.
Every caravan tow vehicle (tug) driver has a responsibility to share the road with others, particularly in the area of cooperation with the truckies and helping them to share the road.
For more information and go to www. truckfriendly.com.au and www.facebook. com/truckfriendly.com.au To contact Ken, phone 0429 944 663 or email admin@ truckfriendly.com.au
TRUCK FRIENDLY PROGRAM
The purpose of the Truck Friendly Program is to help caravanners, RV drivers and other road users work with the many truck drivers whose workplace is on our roads and highways. Being courteous and thoughtful on the roads and understanding what will assist the truck drivers will help make everyone’s journey safer and less stressful.
A truck driver held up behind a slow caravan or convoy can mean the driver missing seeing his family that night or missing their allotted load / unload time at a loading dock. Time is money. There are good and bad drivers of all types of vehicles whether they be cars, caravans, RV’s or trucks. Fortunately, they are in the minority, and most drivers want to do the right thing. This program is designed to help people understand how we can all work together to make our roads safer.
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT TRUCKFRIENDLY.COM.AU Ken Wilson Truck Friendly Program
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TRUCK FRIENDLY
PROGRAM
truckfriendly.com.au
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VOLUME 26 | NUMBER 9
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FROM THE PUBLISHER
In 2018, 679,378 recreational vehicles were registered in Australia, and ‘one in 13 households’ owned a caravan or camper.
Now, two years down the track, pandemic, border restrictions, etc. and the ‘nomads’ as I am sure ‘they are not all grey’ are hitting our regional roads in force. For as long as I have been doing this magazine, every year, without fail someone complains about them for good reason. Everyone says the same thing. They need better communication (UHF) and proper education for our holidaying Australians so that they can learn how to share the roads safely with trucks. Imagine my excitement when I found a program (Page 2) that addresses these issues with a ‘solution’ and a common sense one at that. This program is open to WA and I hope you as the ‘transport industry’ will at least go and have a read of their website.
Is your business in WA feeling the pinch of the skills shortage? Western Roads Federation addresses this giving the reasons why along with a simple, common sense ‘plan’ on how WA operators are going to address it and bring about early solutions.
Welcome to the new readers. If any readers are ever on Facebook if you can like the magazine’s page (WA Transport Magazine) that would be fabulous.
Best, Karen
CONTENTS
2 ..............................................Truck Friendly Caravan Road Safety Program 6 ..............................................Harvest Mass Management Scheme 10 ...........................................Win for regional WA with Road Signage Enquiry 11 ..............................................Local contractor to deliver Leach Highway and Welshpool Road upgrade 12 ...........................................Karratha-Tom Price Road officially named Manuwarra Red Dog Highway 14 ...........................................WRF: Skills Shortage – it’s time to change
16 ...........................................2020 trends on driver behaviour 17 ............................................This seems like a good idea 18 ...........................................Regional road works across South-West are underway
19 ...........................................Truck fatalities down 20 .........................................Perth’s Smart Freeways switched on
Every Month
7 ...............................................Questions to WA State Government 8 ..............................................Fair Go for Owner Drivers 13 ...........................................Bird’s Eye View 22 .........................................HCVC 24 .........................................WA Transport History
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Page 2 IN THIS ISSUE: A NATION-BUILDING PROJECT THAT WILL BENEFIT THE ENTIRE COUNTRY Australia needs ‘nationbuilding’ projects that will increase employment, help establish and increase local manufacturing, and set Australia up for an export manufacturing future. Project Iron Boomerang ticks all these boxes and this project would mean that WA Transport and associate businesses would need to grow and develop to cater to a doubling of the Pilbara as it stands now Move over Wodonga – Collie is stepping up Registration fee rise – Only in WA $223 million to unlock shovel ready projects Tonkin Gap project fast tracked
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