Heavy hitter

CAREER IN FOCUS

Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann

For families heading north on a holiday in the 1980s, driving the Hume Highway between Seymour and Wodonga could be a scary gauntlet to run.

Bad behaviour from truck drivers had reached its peak and everyday road users and holidaymakers were often left white-knuckled as they dealt with semi-trailers capable of reaching 160km/h barrelling down the busy two-lane route.

Many truckies were known for speeding, tailgating, drug use, driving over double lines, cargo overloading, insecure loads and travelling together in long, nose-to-tail convoys along the stretch of road.

The community was fed-up.

So the Victorian Government gave Victoria Police the tough task of taming the Hume.

In September 1985, a trucking industry police taskforce was established – the first of its kind in Australia – and among its founding officers was Leading Senior Constable Laurie Carter.

Ldg Sen Const Carter worked in the taskforce – now named the Heavy Vehicle Unit (HVU) – for almost 35 years until his retirement in March this year brought an end to his 50-year career with Victoria Police.

Prior to joining the then-unnamed taskforce, Ldg Sen Const Carter had cut his road policing teeth during several years at the Traffic Operations Group and on a secondment with the Country Roads Board.

It was there he learned important and difficult lessons about road safety that would be formative for his work in policing the trucking industry.

“One of the crashes that stuck with me was a triple fatality in Sunbury,” Ldg Sen Const Carter said.

“A little aluminium ladder somehow jumped out the back of a plumber’s ute.

“The car that was following swerved to avoid the ladder and crashed head-on with a car coming the other way.

“There was a mum, a daughter and a grandma going to the pictures on a Friday night when they were killed – all because a ladder came off a ute.

“It showed me how important it is for loads to be properly secured.”

Ldg Sen Const Laurie Carter has been at the forefront of trucking compliance in Victoria, and indeed Australia, for more than three decades.

The truck taskforce was only planned to last for three months, but such was the impact of Ldg Sen Const Carter’s and his colleagues’ work, it was soon made into a permanent unit.

The unit’s work during patrols and investigations influenced, and was eventually the catalyst for, the introduction of transport industry regulations such the strict enforcement of logbook rules, speed limiting of trucks, banning the use of radar detectors and drug testing.

Other states followed Victoria’s Police’s lead and eventually the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator was established.

“In the early years, we knocked heads with a lot of truck drivers because it was us against them,” Ldg Sen Const Carter said.

“The transport industry has come a long way since then, but unfortunately a small rogue element still exists.

“It doesn’t matter what’s in place, some operators still won’t comply.

“They’ll try to get around things and do things they shouldn’t be doing.

“And when they get caught, they spit the dummy.”

Ldg Sen Const Carter built a name for himself as a firm, fair and effective police officer.

His undercover patrol car even became wellknown among truck drivers.

Upon seeing his car on the roads, they would sometimes dryly greet him over the CB radio.

“Good morning Mr Carter,” they’d say.

His policing efforts earned him the Australian Police Medal in 2008.

But his effectiveness also made him a target for rogue truckies.

In the early 1990s, one of Ldg Sen Const Carter’s bosses was driving on the Hume when he overheard two unknown truckies on CB radio conspiring to plant $2,000 cash in Ldg Sen Const Carter’s patrol car if they were pulled over by him and then accuse him of soliciting a bribe.

“These were a couple of guys who thought, ‘We’ll stitch Carter up, get him off the road’,” Ldg Sen Const Carter said.

“The idea was they’d ring up my superiors and say, ‘We’ve just had this copper pull us up. He’s gone easy on us, but it’s cost us $2,000. Go and search his car’.”

The HVU began making real inroads into policing the industry when it gained the support of, and collaborated with, transport industry associations and even truck driver unions.

“The cowboy influence in the industry is now a lot less,” Ldg Sen Const Carter said.

But the veteran policeman says good people skills still lie at the heart of the job.

Part of that is understanding the time and job pressures truck drivers face.

“My job is about being fair with a truck driver and having respect for the work he does,” he said.

“You can still prosecute a guy, prosecute him hard, and the majority of truck drivers will respect that, as long as you’re being fair and respectful.

“I’ve knocked heads with a lot of truck drivers over the years, but I’ve also made a lot of good acquaintances with truck drivers by being fair.”

On one occasion, Ldg Sen Const Carter pulled over and fined a driver who had recently bought a truck from a rogue company.

It was overloaded, un-speed limited and breached other regulations.

“He and I are now actually very good friends,” Ldg Sen Const Carter said.

“But he never lets me forget about the day I cost him a lot of money.”

In retirement, Ldg Sen Const Carter is looking forward to driving north on a now much safer Hume Freeway for his own holiday with his wife Margaret in their four-wheel-drive and camper trailer.

“I’m lucky I have a wife who loves a campfire, a glass of red and the solitude of the bush,” he said.

As he hits the retirement road, Ldg Sen Const Carter can do so knowing he has the admiration of his colleagues, the respect of the trucking industry and even the ire of rogue drivers for a job well done.