Give us a break mate!

• General News
• 9th October 2012

There’s a copper patrolling the Middle Swan section of the Great Northern Highway who has no idea about the dangers that deadly skin cancers pose to hard-working truck drivers.

Veteran long distance truckie Wally Webb was recently pulled over by the over-zealous walloper a few months back because of the sun-reflector on the dash of his truck.

Wal rang me hoping I’d put the story in the best read magazine in transport to warn his mates on the road. He told me what had happened.

“I was just passing the Apple Street hookup area when a “Plain Wrapper” police patrol car spun around, came back and pulled me over.

One of the two officers in the vehicle got out I asked her what was up. She said the silver foil across the front of the windscreen was obstructing my vision.

I said but I can see over it love and if you want to sit in the cab you’ll see that for yourself.

She seemed reasonably happy with my explanation until her partner strode up with the book in his hand and I guessed I was about to have it thrown at me.

He said I’m going to book you for obstruction of vision and it’ll cost you $200 and four demerit points.

I said, come on mate I’ll just take it down and I opened the door and told my co-driver to do so.

Then I turned to the officer and said give us a break mate!

He said everyone knows about it (the offence) and I said, this is the first I’ve heard of it and I’m up and down the road every day.

If we knew about the so-called law we would automatically take them down.

If you travel north up the highway you’ll see heaps of truckies with them. They put them up for health reasons.

They reflect the sun off the dash and stop it burning the skin on your hands and face. Preventing skin cancer is important for truckies because the sun is magnified tremendously through truck windscreens.

I said (to the copper) just because you have an arsehole doesn’t mean you have to be an arsehole. And shouldn’t you be out chasing hardened criminals and not worrying about petty crap?

These polite explanations seemed to lighten the bugger up a bit and he said ‘OK then, I’ll just fine you $100 with no point loss.

So I grudgingly pocketed the infringement notice, jumped back in the truck and headed north – with no sun protection.

When I arrived where I was heading I spoke to a local police officer who told me booking people for vision obstruction it is up to the coppers interpretation.

Personally he had never booked a truckie in similar circumstances to mine.

But just be aware that there’s one copper out there who has it in for us. I reckon a truckie must have screwed his missus.”