Truckies speed to beat rules, says assn

Press, 10 March 1988, Page 39

Truckies speed to beat rules, says assn

PA Hamilton Some truck-drivers are speeding to meet deadlines imposed by the drivers’ logbook rules, say members of the Waikato Road Transport Association.

An association executive member, Mr Allan Kempthome, who runs a company of eight trucks, said some drivers had to speed to finish a haul within their limit of 11 driving hours a day. “You have only got to get on the roads to follow them,” he said. “If you are in a hurry you go fast.”

Mr Kempthorne said companies, such as his own, which carried a lot of livestock had a problem in getting the animals to their destination on time.

“You have got to get them from A to B. If you park on the side of the road they die and you get the S.P.C.A. on your back.” Another executive member, Mr Tony Galbraith, who runs a company of 15 trucks, said truck-drivers were now under more pressure with the logbooks, which were intended to cut accidents caused by tired drivers. "Relaxed driving where they can take their time is a thing' of the past,” he said. "We have to be very careful.” I A National Road Transport Association executive director, Mr Warren' Grossetta, confirmed i there had been stories of

drivers speeding to avoid breaking the drivinghours rules. He said the logbooks were not effective in enforcing the driving-hours regulations. “The logbook does not do anything but make the honest man record what the honest man has been doing all along,” Mr Grossetta said. The Northern Transport Licensing Unit head for the Ministry of Transport, Senior-Sergeant Dave Harris, said he was not aware of truck-drivers speeding any more than they did before the logbook laws came into effect. i “If a man is running 10 or 15 minutes late getting to the depot we are not going to swoop on him,” he said. “It is the men who are hours over their time we try to, get.” If drivers were speeding to keep within their •times, it was [not showing up in accident statistics, Mr Harris said.