Smart Motorist

1. Respect, assist and treat other truckies as you would like to be treated.
2. Make allowances for car drivers. They don’t drive or understand trucks.
3. Your behavior on the road and to other motorists is how we are all seen. Try to be courteous and show a good face to represent the industry that feeds you and your family.
4. Do not tailgate. Cars – you are seen as pushy cowboys, particularly where there is no safe place to pass for some time. It’s one of our two biggest public issues. Trucks – help one another, use CB and or flash highbeam when overtaking. Be, and be seen to be, working together as those who spend their life on the road.
5. Blatant speeding is the other biggest issue that the public abhor and use to beat us up in the press, and brand us all as irresponsible cowboys.
6. Jake brakes – in hours of darkness turn off at 60 signs and back on at 100 and only use when absolutely necessary in these urban areas at night.
7. Appearance – make an effort to look and act as a professional truckdriver. Even if you do not like this term, there’s more chance you’ll be treated better if you make an effort to look and act the part.
8. Bad language – on CB, particularly UHF with rural community use and longer range. You are not in a closed room. You don’t speak in front of your family like that, don’t do it in case of others who may be listening.
9. Dip your lights first at night. Show a good example for truckies and others.
10. Safe equipment and safe operation will see you home safe as well.

Whilst any effort to educate the average car driver will take many years, we can only do our best to travel in safety on the road. Your best efforts may often be overshadowed by bad press from an incident or accident involving a truck and often wrongly blamed upon the truckie, but only with time and education will the public, both motoring and general, come to appreciate the enormous contribution that the road transport industry makes to their comforts and way of life.

Your efforts and time on the road will either assist or destroy the attempts being made by many to improve how we are seen and treated, both on the road and off. It is a hard life on families and not respected for the money in equipment and cargo carried, or lifestyle involved. Australias’ truckies do carry this country.

With your help this message will go someway to lift the standard for all.

I would welcome your comments and suggestions with the aim of improving on road communication particularly between vanners and truckies and improving road safety for all road users. Please write to Rod Hannifey, 15 Kensington Ave. Dubbo, N.S.W. 2830 or email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

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