Diary of a Truck Driver

There is a lot of talk about Global Climate Change in the media and the boffins say that it is indeed changing, although they appear to struggle to agree on what that change actually is.

On an average week I’ll drive around 3500 kilometres, it’s not huge for a long distance driver but I spend a fair amount of time trundling around Sydney and Brisbane doing pick-ups and this cuts into my available driving time.

Based on this figure I take about eleven weeks to drive the equivalent of circumnavigating the world at the equator. During a year I’ll complete almost five laps of the world!

Whilst repeatedly circumnavigating the world for a year I’ll burn enough diesel to raise the level of an Olympic swimming pool by more than a foot (30 cm for the young ones). I’ll go through at least one set of tires (22 in total and this doesn’t count the ones that deflate and shred or the ones that get trashed on the curb going around tight city turns).

I’ll also transport around 8500 tonnes of goods.

I don’t really know how to calculate it but my Carbon Footprint must be huge.

The thing is, it’s OUR carbon footprint. We all consume the goods I deliver and we demand cheap prices meaning that importation is essential. Consumption of out of season food stuffs also drives importation.

Poor corporate planning often means that from field to table goods must travel huge distances for processing and packing. I’ve transported waste paper from western NSW to Sydney for pulping and then carted a similar product back to the same town, from Brisbane, to be used as insulation.

Everyone that drives through the Hunter Valley, deplores the scarring of the land in the hunt for more coal (have a look at Google Maps, it’s even worse to see from space) and yet the coal extraction is only a part of the problem. Huge amounts of diesel are consumed to get it from the ground to the rail head and then to port where it travels many thousands of kilometres to foreign parts to be used in producing goods that are shipped back to our ports and then via trains and trucks back to YOU the consumer.

I remember scoffing at the “Buy you kids a job” campaign and staunchly vowing to buy the most cost effective product that meets my needs, fearful of an imbalance in the foreign trade deficit should we reject imported goods without regard to competitive pricing and yet the ramifications of transporting goods such huge distances to appease the corporate balance sheet appears to happen without regard for the current environmental concerns.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no tree hugger (although I did spend hours one night trying to save stranded whales in an effort to impress a certain young lady) but it does make a lot of sense to try and limit the number of kilometres a product travels from field to consumer in an effort to conserve dwindling resources.

I have every faith that alternative forms of motivation will be found in the future but faced with escalating prices at the Supermarket I have to wonder at the true costs of consumption.

Maybe, in the future, I’ll drive a nuclear powered Kenworth (Wickham’s look out!) but until then I hope you all keep the consumption up so I can keep on spending night after night out on the road…. ripper!

A video from YouTube that will make you realise you didn’t have the worst day on the road… (more…)

I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to acknowledge the valiant efforts of the conscientious driver who attempted to assist me to better understand the road rules the other day.

I was hauling over the Wattigans on my way to Sydney. I had been stuck behind two older ladies in a Corolla since Branxton (about half an hour) frustrated by their constant talking. Obviously I couldn’t hear them but every time the driver decided she should look at the road ahead rather than her cohort she would dab the brakes encouraging our average speed to be closer to 70 kph rather than the posted 90 kph. Bowling and Bingo don’t really appeal to me but I definitely had places I needed to be.

As I ascended the climb up the Wattigans I moved across to lane 2 in order to surpass the blistering speed of the Corolla. By the time I pulled alongside them the lanes were about to merge. Alas the aged motorists would have been forced to slow a little more to merge behind me, but I was clear for the run down the other side.

But then the voice over the two-way came. In a rather abusive manner I was informed that I was solely responsible for the reputation of heavy vehicle operators across the nation. What a nerve I had for attempting to legally pass a slower vehicle.

Cheers mate for you assistance and might I draw your attention to Part 11, Division 1, rule 148(1) of the Australian Road Rules which states “A driver who is moving from one marked lane (whether or not the lane is ending) to another marked lane must give way to any vehicle travelling in the same direction as the driver in the marked lane to which the driver is moving.”

Thanks again for your assistance and I hope to see you on the road again.

“Grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change;

The courage to change the things that I can;

The wisdom to know the difference;

And a large bullbar for all other occasions.”

In 1901, the colonies of, Australia went through a process of Federation. The British Government and the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria, signed off on the documents of Constitution. Constitution by definition suggests that the rules and affairs of Australia should have become more condensed, navigable and strengthened by this process.

Of all the aims of the Constitution, trade and transport were in there. Tariffs between the states and irregular rail track gauges hampered the prosperity of the fledgling nation. Whilst the intent was good it was obviously lost along the way.

In late October of last year I had the pleasure of being entertained by the Queensland Traffic Authority and the local Constabulary for the purposes of a routine roads side check of my documentation and work diary. I had no reason to be concerned as everything was in order. My NSW licence was current, my log book up to date and within the rules.

The experience quickly turned sour when I was informed that my authority to drive in Queensland had been suspended due to an unpaid fine from nine years ago. Yes that’s right NINE years!

I had indeed been issued a fine some nine years previous. Obviously I had forgotten to pay the fine but it’s that long ago I can’t remember what happened to cause the situation. What had really caused the problem was that although I had changed my address in NSW, moved interstate and transferred my licence, joined the Army and served overseas, the Queensland Transport Authority thought it best to just send the suspension notice to my last known address that they knew of. Sounds reasonably but their computers don’t talk to NSW computers or Northern Territory computers, in fact as far as I can gather none of them talk to each other. It would appear that the next time I move I will need to visit the NSW RTA to let them know and then send six letters to each of the states and territories to let them know I am moving. Pity they can’t just Google me.

I was issued with a notice to appear before the courts. Trouble is that meant heading up to Ipswich when I live in Tamworth to attend the preliminary hearing. I pleaded not guilty, due to mistake of fact and was advised to reappear in March.

Four months, of stress and worry, later (remember this is my livelihood not just an inconvenience) and I have to take more time off work and incur the expense of travelling back to Ipswich again.

After all that worry and travel I was advised that the case would be dismissed, not because I had done no wrong but because the Police Officer that booked me had to attend a course.

It irks me somewhat that whilst I was forced to travel six hours each way and take two days off work to attend the court, under threat of imprisonment for failing to attend, the Officer concerned could just fonk the whole show.

Would it be too much to ask for one phone call to tell me to forget the whole thing?

Thank god this is all one big happy country, thank god for federation; it’s really working well… NOT.