We Hit the Highways to Talk to Truckies

• General News
• 5th February 2014

The TWU hit the roads going North in November and received massive support from truckies and motorists for our “Fix WA’s Horror Highways” campaign.

Hundreds of people stopped at our big blue van on the North West Coastal and Great Northern Highways for a chat about issues concerning them.

And they all signed our petition calling on the state and federal governments to fix the death-traps that are endangering truckies lives.

We set up camp at several sites including the Carnarvon road train hook-up area and the Lyndon River Bridge near where our member Ashley Johnson lost his life last year.

We spoke to hundreds of line-haul drivers who were pleased to see us on the Highways but very unhappy with the conditions they have to tolerate.

Many of them said they felt helpless to deal with the problems confronting them and were pleased to have the TWU voicing their concerns.

Major gripes included fatigue, unrealistic scheduling by companies and the appalling amenities – or lack of them – for truckies.

Many are struggling to scratch out a living on cut-throat kilometre rates. And we were staggered by the number of drivers who told us they don’t get paid for the time they spend loading and unloading.

As for the amenities – or lack of them – those that do exist are really atrocious – the worst in Australia.

Any driver who passes the Northern Territory or South Australian borders can’t help but be hit by the vastly superior trucking facilities in those states.

It was great to listen to their concerns first hand and the TWU will continue to speak out about truckies concerns at every opportunity.

Carnarvon Assembly Area

Credit where it is due, there have been improvements at the Carnarvon road train assembly area.

The truck stop was often flooded and drivers would have to trudge around ankle-deep in mud and muck.

However Main Roads have lifted the area and it now has a good dry surface. It is also well lit.

But there’s not much more we can on a positive note.

There are no toilets and those who use the area have to do their business in the bush – as they do at most other truck stops in backward WA.

The Goat Track Out of Minilya

Excuse our language - but how the f..k there haven't been more deaths on the 135 km section of the North West Coastal Highway heading north from Minilya is beyond us.

We’ve seen better goat tracks in Third World countries than this ridiculously narrow stretch of road.

In just the two days we camped at the Lyndon River Bridge there were two accidents. Either could have been fatalities if the circumstances were a bit different.

One involved a road train that dropped off the crumbling shoulder of the Highway about 58 kms North of the Lyndon Bridge to overtake an oversize load.

The sudden drop-off the edge caused a steer tyre to blow and the prime mover ended up facing the other way

The truck hit a tree on the way round and they had to have the two trailers towed out of the bush.

Another road train went off the shoulder to get past the same over-size load.

But when he came back on, the third trailer skipped into the air and seriously damaged the awning on the building being carried by the oversize vehicle.

In both cases the drivers were lucky to escape unscathed.

?

This section of road needs to be fixed now – not in three or four years time when the politicians get around to providing the funding.

If it not we’ll soon be talking about with a tragedy of catastrophic proportions.

If there is no quick fix they should slow the speed limit and enforce a maximum of two trailers.

The road is like a long mine-field and it poses dangers for everyone who travels on it. The kids, grandma and grandpa!

They all encounter road-trains and when these heavy rigs start swerving the ordinary motorists don’t have a clue what is going on.