Who are the NRFA » State Delegates » Ken Wilkie
Ken Wilkie
KenWilkie
Beenleigh,Qld Delegate: 0427-742-554
Ken Wilkie - Has been an owner driver since 1974. For the past fifteen or so years we have delivered d/g from Melbourne to Rockhampton and many points in between. Previously I have served on the boards of the NTF which amalgamated with the LDRTA to become Natroad. I was the first o/ driver elected to the Road Transport Forum (ATA). I became disenchanted with these groups because to my mind they have become more industrial relation orientated than industry advocates. It is for this reason that my wife and myself have made our K104 available to Rod H at a nominal rate to support his Truck Right Industry Vehicle program. Small operators and drivers need their own voice- again the TWU is an industrial relation organisation with strong political allegiances . I am disgusted with the manner that truck drivers have been and are being treated by the authorities primarily and secondly how quickly the big end of town dispenses with integrity in its hast to pander to bureaucracy. To think this is the country that gave the world the ANZACs
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News From Queensland
Ken Wilkie's Delegate Report 2011.
2011: The highlight would have to have been the Coalition of Industry Convoy of NO Confidence to Canberra. Many commentators judged our actions to be a failure. Members, you'd better believe that was not and is not the case.
I was lucky enough to meet with Tony Abbott again early in December. Members will remember that Tony traveled from Marulan to Canberra in my truck. He informed me that he is going to get his heavy vehicle license (probably has it by now) I think that indicates he is/will be receptive to concerns relating to road transport that we bring to his notice.
I have had several correspondences with one Peter Rocke as a consequence of an article I put in Owner Driver describing my view on some of the ATA's short comings. Peter wasn't impressed with comments I'd made – accused me of being an ignorant cash for comment journalist. Ignorant yes but can't very well accept either of the other descriptions as O/D have never paid me a red cent and I left school in my fifteenth year – journalists study longer than that.
After I'd set Peter right on those issues, he invited me to submit a list of concerns he would put to the ATA council. I forwarded four concerns.
That all breach documents show any demerit point value that might accompany that breach. That drivers should not be breached for design issues – such as over size / long vehicle / road train signs not complying to specifications; vehicles being over prescribed length.
It is my contention that those issues should go straight to the vehicle owner. I asked that pressure be brought to bear to include driver education in the secondary school curriculum.
I asked that the driver judged to be “Driver of the Year” be paraded across the nation as a means of lifting the profile of drivers in the community.
Also asked that ATA press for an inquiry into accidents deemed fatigue related to determine how many are happening outside legal parameters.
On having demerit points visible on breach documents – NO COMMENT.
Driver of the year exhibited across the nation. Sorry; too expensive. Kenworth are drastically reducing their sponsorship. He asked for my suggestions on raising such money as would make exposing the driver of the year possible. At best they will have him / her accompany Stuart Saint-Clair on an ad-hoc basis.
Fatigue inquiry: - ' doesn’t know whether another enquiry will produce a positive outcome – considering the incredible amount of effort that the ATA and member organizations have put into Basic and advanced fatigue procedures. And suggests I talk to Frank Black.
Chain of responsibility!! (Signs and the like) Peter advises that had it not been for the ATA pushing such issues for fifteen years, we wouldn't be where we are today? The topic was discussed at length at the council meeting.
ATA is strongly lobbying for fuel based charging
Peter doubts that NRFA will have much influence. Cites lack of financial resource, lack of secretarial support and fragmented operators who will have a different opinion on every issue. Peter takes great pleasure in ATA having been included in discussions with government.
NRFA Board has been kept abreast of this ongoing discussion and supported it; taking the view that we might help our cause. The last letter was so disparaging and full of self justified ego that we have taken the decision not to go on with it.
Victoria and South Aust are now counting the twenty four hour time the same as Qld and NSW. NRFA have now dealt with or are in the process of dealing with five errors committed by coppers in following the “after a major break” aspect. Watch them on this and let NRFA know if trouble arises.
I am hopeful that we might have discussions with Qld's opposition spokes people on Main Roads, Police and Transport early in the New Year.
I express the hope that each and every one of us gets to know our local representatives in all spheres of government.
Can I also wish all a merry Xmas, and a happy and prosperous new year and at least two new governments?
Ken W
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Ken Wilkie – report of recent activities re NRFA and thoughts pertaining to same.
Sometime around the 19/05 I had a discussion with Rod Hannifey at which time he advised that Qld Transport /Main Roads gave him at his instigation plans of the rest area just to the south of Millmerrin. This has been an unofficial parking bay for some years capable of holding up to five B doubles. After spending some hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax payer’s money, it is expected to have a capacity of three B doubles. I raised the issue by phone with Fiona Simpson and sent her an Email of details. During the discussion I spoke of the red ribbon campaign. She expressed her support but raised objections to the public disobedience proposal.
On Thursday evening of the 20/05, Peter Whytcross and I attended a local political party meeting where Peter was able to discuss at length pressure issues on driver’s compliments of log book regulations.
The following day from about 12.30, Peter W, NRFA member Steve Smith and I participated in a photo shoot with a local Jimboomba journalist. After that I drove us to the home of a local landscape operator whose business has been adversely affected by the local council's sudden imposition of a weight limit on a local road. We used the visit to get an understanding of the situation regarding the weight restriction and strongly suggested joining NRFA and left stickers promoting the red ribbon campaign.
We than went to the bridge concerned and did a truckies inspection – taking several photos of the structure from the stream bed. As none of us are structural engineers we are not in a position to comment on the soundness of the bridge but council's action demonstrate an ignorance of the role of road transport in the health of a community. The residents that council have partially marooned will now pay more for water deliveries and delivery of concrete mix has been put at risk because the extra sixty kilometres that has to travelled I'm told will mean ready mixed concrete will have been mixing too long for it to be in specification. We were advised that council have given an exemption to school buses using the route. Replacement of the bridge is proposed some two years away.
We then proceeded to Rod Pilon's depot where Peter gave an interview to Chris from Big Rigs magazine and where Rod Hannifey participated in a photo shoot with Chris. Sadly, Rod did not have his trailers there and of course the prime mover is now back at Ken Wilkie's yard being readied to rejoin my work force.
Rod H has since pointed out that we need to develop alternative proposals to issues that we have issues with. One point he has made is that we need to keep our “issues” to a minimum. I consider, owing to Rod's fantastic achievements to date , that we consider his comments favourably and that we encourage him to participate with us in Skype meetings.
I believe there needs to be an inquiry into fatigue related accidents to determine how many such incidents happen before a driver is out of hours and so on. My preference at this point is for this industry to adopt the WA “fatigue management” guide lines.
On the twenty seventh I attended a Qld T/port M/Roads dissemination regarding chain of responsibility regulations pertaining to drivers speeding. Form memory there is supposed to be something like a dozen operators who have volunteered to be part of IAP trials. The statistics on incidents of speeding trucks from within this group is frightening. One operator alone (he showed me his letter from Qld T/port) had one driver - or more properly one truck record more than twenty 115 KPH speeds in ONE month. This operator maintains he had no indication of these speeds until he received the letter. The truck in question has since checked out to be speed limited. I forget the total of such recordings and higher from this small select group. If the recordings are accurate, then heaven help us because IAP IS going to mandatory for us all. I wasn't able to have frank discussions re the integrity of chain of responsibility to date – whether the government is actually doing as the bureaucrats say it is.
Do we have another fiasco here as with speed cameras. Some of us will have seen reports on the box about Victorian fines from cameras that are not reading correctly?
Further verification from bureaucrats at this meeting that the ADR for speedometers is plus or minus ten kilometres per hour for accuracy – and most show vehicles doing a hundred before said vehicle does a hundred. I think this issue is a major cause for the belief by most car drivers that trucks speed. But then if the IAP trials are correct, maybe there are more idiots driving trucks than I thought to be the case.
Last week I also had a discussion with one Mike Carter of Qld. Transport / Main Roads reference Kessel's Road “keep left”. Mike is the man in charge I believe. He is adamant that it is a trial up until August when the results will be evaluated. He has been under some pressure to move forward as if the next step is to make the “trucks keep left” a permanent situation. He has given me undertaking that I will get a copy of the report, but there is a committee set up to consider the trial
An as I'm not on that committee. Any time I have gone through the route, it does not appear that truck drivers are paying much heed to the direction. Mike could not tell me if any drivers have been booked for not staying in the left lane. It worries me a little as it could seem that the trial has been successful because there does not appear to be any dramas at this stage.
Also, a copy of a letter I've had printed in one of the local rags re the load limit on the bridge on Goodna Road
Ken Wilkie.
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My letter to Chris Pidgeon
Dear Chris Pidgeon,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my earlier email regarding my
concerns reference the BUC keep left fiasco. This proposal is a fiasco because I am totally confident
that the vast majority of those constituents you mention have no knowledge or care of the needs of
drivers of heavy vehicles. Heavy vehicles exist solely for the benefit of your constituents – and not for
the pleasure of those operating the vehicles. Society's total road safety performance would be vastly
benefited if such selfishness as demonstrated by the proposal for the BUC did not exist.
The initial proposal talked of improving road safety. In reality the only true
ambition of this proposal is a despicable attempt by a politician or politicians to better their chances at
the next election by further denigrating a very much maligned group of unappreciated workers.
Any considerate and thinking person would understand that there is a vast
variation in the performance of different heavy vehicles and restricting these tools of society to any one
lane is going to have a considerable detrimental impact on safety – not to mention THEIR ability to
move with some flexibility along this major transport corridor. I do agree that there is some little
inconvenience to local traffic – as there is in queuing at a bank or entering a car parking space. But
should one of your constituents be forced to follow a fully loaded heavy vehicle through the entire
route, I doubt that more than thirty minutes would elapse.
I remind your constituents that the Brisbane Urban Corridor is federally funded as
a heavy vehicle route. To inflict such selfish requirements on those who pay so much to society as they
perform for society to my mind is immoral and reeks of dishonesty.
I have just returned from walking the Kokoda Track. From the very height of their
unselfish action at the greatest of personal cost to depth of selfish self interest. I can't help but wonder
at their reaction.
Ken Wilkie,
Delegate, National Road Freighters Association
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Burpengary Inspection Station
Report of conversation with Paul Duck, Qld. Transport, Manager, Burpengary Inspection Station. I come by Paul as a by product of my quest to talk to Ross Brady who was not available. Paul was and is more than willing to talk with us or any one who has an issue to discuss relating to Burpengary. He can be contacted on 07 34914700. We were chasing Ross to gain clarification on whether we could move out of the lane that trucks have been directed to on approach to Burpengary – 5 kilometers before on the north bound side and three kilometers on the south bound approach.
A pretty typical bureaucratic response to the question as why trucks were to keep to the left lane. “Because it is a legal direction”. Any way, I persisted with the question until at long last - “It's for safety reasons so that trucks don't have to change lanes at the last minute to comply with the direction to enter the station and give themselves the excuse that they (trucks) could not enter because of other vehicles obstructing the entry access.” Paul sees it as being kind to truckies in so much that we have five kilometers to ensure that we are in a safe position to enter the site and thereby not be festooned with a ticket worth $1500.00 for failing to enter the bridge when directed to do so. He informed me that any truck that sails down the middle during an inspection period will be and has been videoed and subsequent action will follow.
Paul has no problems with drivers overtaking slower vehicles after the start of the point of direction just so long as the truck has regained the left lane in time to make a safe and dignified entry to the inspection site should that be required. But that is a personal attitude and he maintains that he has directed his staff to adopt the same attitude. There is no legal right written into the legislation. Ross Brady's office advised that police can book a driver for not observing the direction. I think the fine value was $250.00 but I am not too sure now.
At this point, I don't think I achieved much and I believe further explanation to drivers is required. I feel few would consider the direction to be in their interest. I consider one kilometer adequate for safety grounds.
I did not raise the issue of records required to be kept if doing local without the good book. From times past, one needs a record that ensures so called fatigue management rules are accommodated. It is true that BFM accredited operators do not get that allowance . Personally I find that illogical as BFM carries education supposedly. Better informed leads to more imposition.
Your thoughts,
Ken Wilkie
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Monthly Report
Tuesday 10 saw Darryl, Garry and I visit transport house to attend to a wrongful breaching of Garry under what is called fatigue management regulation. Thanks to a search of the regulations by Ben Wilkie and considerable time expended by Mick locating the “proper” person to visit, the outcome just had to be as it was. Peter from Qld Transport has given an undertaking – several in fact, that Garry’s licence will be returned to its' full point status, the officer who was so adamant that he knew his job will be retrained and the officer's responsibility to his profession will be reinforced.
Peter advised that the crucial paragraph that directs officers to count a twenty four hour period from a major rest break is not included in Victoria’s legislation. Another nail in the lie that told anyone who would listen that the new rules were “national”. If that is the case then Victorian inspectors have no legal impediment to starting counting from the middle of a major rest break – thereby denying the driver a seven consecutive hour break.
On a different topic. Rod Hannifey has designed stickers advertising the national role of road transport. On a profile photo of the truck right industry vehicle, appear the words “trucks deliver Australia” and beneath the photo the words “our needs, our products, our wealth”. Photos measure approx 12 inches by 3.5 inches wide. They are on sale for twenty dollars per piece which is to be used to buy the bloody things and provide some support cash for the truck and its activities. I have just purchased 6 to spread over my gear. I also purchased two high visibility “t” shirts which advertise the aims of the TIV on the back. These were/are not a commercial product but rod might be able to arrange something if asked nicely and if consideration is given to rod's very busy schedule. In other words, don't expect the effort for nothing.
Ken Wilkie.
This is the Letter I sent to the following people
The Minister for Main Roads, the Honorable Craig Wallace,
The Honorable Judith Spence, The Honorable Graham Perrett, The Honorable Philip Reeves,
The Honorable Michael Wai-Man Choi, The Honorable David Finn, The Honorable Fiona Simpson,
Mr Russel Ingham, Mr Russel White, Mr Darren Caulfield.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My correspondence is to vigorously oppose the ill considered and unfair requirement for transport drivers to drive their heavy vehicles in the left lane on sections of the Brisbane Urban Corridor. According to the information sheet www.tmr.qld.gov.au, the aim of the exercise is to ease congestion for local road users without compromising road safety.
I accept that there is some inconvenience for all road users where heavy congestion occurs.
I remind readers that more than half of the trucks using this heavy vehicle corridor are doing so to deliver goods and chattels to government supporters (The Labor Party representing most of the state). I advise that should a local road user be forced to follow a heavy vehicle for the ENTIRE route, an elapsed time of some twenty minutes could be expected. The sign posting is vague and confusing.
The impression on entering the corridor travelling west is that the entire eight kilometres is “trucks keep left”.
Truck drivers are as much servants to society as any other member of society. Trucks and truck drivers are a crucial component of our national wealth and sophistication.
Truck drivers have time constraints and responsibilities the same as any other member of society. So what about making the road effective for the delivery of goods to your constituents?
Much has been said regarding the concern of forcing high vehicles against obstacles placed against the kerb – the most obvious example being power poles. Then we need to be aware that city Council buses have priority over moving traffic when setting down or picking up passengers.
Consequently B doubles to sixty four tonnes will have to drag to a stop and then pull away again to allow the public transport system to function. Your local commuters will need to push between trucks to exit left.
And what do you think will happen in the sections where trucks are allowed to move out of the left lane? There will be a wall of lighter heavy vehicles trying to overtake slower more heavily loaded rigs and once the trucks are required to return to the left lane, confusion and miss judgment will likely prevail.
Needless to say, the poor old truckie will be found at fault AGAIN.
Safety – what rubbish!
I point out that the Rocklea area is the Brisbane bedroom for long haul operators. (Thanks to private industry and none to government efforts). Consequently there is a need to travel to the north side after rest and the Kessel's Road connection is the historical heavy vehicle route. The Brisbane markets are situated at Rocklea. Again Kessel's road is the heavy vehicle connection to the northern produce producing areas.
I am disgusted and disappointed that politicians stoop to denigrating and disadvantaging such a hard working industry just to attract votes.
Might I suggest that each and all contact Mr Rod Hannifey (Truck Right Industry Vehicle) to obtain a demonstration on the dynamics of heavy vehicles – phone 0428 120560. Dr Brenden Nelson was one politician who took advantage of the offer.
In anticipation of a return to fair and just decisions.
Ken Wilkie,
Queensland delegate National Road Freighters Association.