What is wrong with current batch of truckies??

I know this bit of road well and it is not some dangerous goat track. A well worn bit of two lane highway, mainly flat but one where you can usually make 80 to 100kms.
There are works under way to upgrade it near Geelong and they have done rope barriers and passing lanes in recent years, A bypass of Colac should be the next job on their list.
I dont follow that Kiwi idea of turning from the left, it means crossing two lines of fast traffic, not one and adds maybe another 10 yards to the distance you need to cover. In a truck you have the problem of starting off smartly on a crappy road shoulder

Just My Two cents worth .If the truckie was following the {big] Mini bus at a reasonable distance behind ,On a straight piece of road Wouldn't his view of abbots car be blocked by the bus .So all of a sudden the bus swerves and hes left with the view of a car sitting in the middle of the road .He did well not to hit any thing .With the cameras rolling How doWe know that the car driver was on the phone getting instructions to wait a bit while the cameras get set for the shot . And for christ sake if every truckie in australia drove to make sure they could stop if a car driver did something stupid in front of them ,they would never get out of first gear ..ian .

my 2c worth (cash only). in the interests of self preservation, if i was the driver of the car i would find a road or a driveway on the left somewhere. hang a u-turn on the quiet road then go back to the site. pretty simple really. as far as the footage we have seen, who knows if they hadn't just come around a corner onto a straight? you are allowed to drive a truck at 100km per hour so if some clown decides to stop in the middle of the highway in front of you, even with your safe following distance you would be hard pressed to stop. the car drivers a prawn in my opinion.

Well We got 4 cents worth ,anybody else want to add their two cents worth to the poor truckies defence fund .. I drive under powered tippers and when going into town with a machine on the back 95 KPH apparantly isn't fast enough so when i get to the end of the passing lane where the road disappears round a blind left hand bend ,and the next idiot car driver is passing me accross the double white lines because the idiot in front of him got round alive . What is the headline going to scream when a car or truck comes round that blind corner . For every 1 cowboy out there ,there is hundreds of good blokes that get dirty looks because their driving one of those killer trucks the media tells the public about . . Ian .

Ian - You're defending the indefensible. The Ryans Freighters driver was in the wrong, it's that simple. The whole basis of "defensive driving" techniques, is to be able to stop in the distance that you can see.
What if the position of Abbots car and the small coach, had been a smash with stationary wrecks, and injured people lying about the scene?? The Ryans bloke would have run into them. I seem to recall a number of smashes in recent times where trucks have ploughed into wrecks on the road, because they were travelling too fast for the conditions.
Yes, there's thousands of truckies out there, who are good, responsible drivers .. but as truck drivers, you're expected to have a larger degree of skill and experience, and knowledge of road rules .. than the average slack-ar$e, uncaring, unknowledgable, car driver.
The defensive driving skills come to the fore, when you can avoid potential accidents created by the stupidity of car drivers .. not add to the hazards, by travelling too fast for the conditions, and expecting people to get out of your way, just because you've got the superior size, and because you think your load demands road priority. Just because impatience and dangerous moves are the forte of car drivers, doesn't mean that truck drivers need to indulge in the same poor behaviour. It takes two to tango.

Taking the title of this thread as a starting point .....

I can understand the sensitivity to any action by a bloke in a truck that appears to be wrong - the ignorant, sensationalist media is ready to vilify any group by the actions of a few.

But no-one gets it right all the time and it seems the circumstances in this case were certainly unusual given the Abbott circus being in the area.

So I am surprised at how how quickly some were to condemn the truckie involved.

And my question is ..... is there also a generational thing involved here? Is our believe that things are never as good as "back in our day" influencing the response?

Not wanting to cause offence - just asking a genuine question and taking the total to 6 cents.

Jimbo - I don't believe there's a "generational thing" involved .. but I personally believe there's been a decline in good driving skills, on the part of many truck drivers, in recent years.
I personally believe that good truck driving skills need to be taught by older, skilled drivers .. and they aren't being taught to the younger drivers, "coming up through the ranks" .. and many older drivers also become complacent, and develop bad habits. This is where regular "driving skills" checks should come in.

I also believe, that part of the problem is manufacturers making modern trucks drive like cars .. so younger drivers think they can drive them like cars.
Older trucks required more driving skill, plain and simple .. and the modernisation of roads isn't helping either.
All us older blokes regularly drove on roads that were narrow, windy, rough, and often unsealed. Many of the major "highways" in my neck of the woods, when I was in my 20's, were virtually single lane bitumen, where you had to pull over onto the gravel shoulder to pass oncoming vehicles.
Young drivers nowadays have little to challenge them .. and the worst that can happen in a modern truck is the DVD player, the GPS, or the air-con, stops working.

There has been a rise, statistically, in the number of truck accidents, per km travelled, in recent years. This goes against the long term downward trend, that is apparent in motor vehicle accident figures, full stop.

There have been 12 major level-crossing smashes in the last 3 or 4 years in Australia, and 9 of those level crossing smashes have involved trucks over 8 tonnes GVM.
This is a serious and unacceptable increase in heavy vehicle level crossing smashes .. and the bill for each of these smashes is pretty unpalatable. In the case of the Lismore truck-train smash, the bill was estimated to be over $30M. In the case of the Kerang train disaster, no amount of value could be put on the human suffering. Yes, many level crossings (and highways) need improvement .. but this does not resile from the fact that a cautious truck driver, with safe driving skills, is the best source of accident prevention, that we can ever muster.

I will add my 2c as well (now 8c)

While travelling along the Western Highway today a B Double from WA was travelling at 100kmh and only about 1/2 second from the car in front of him, also behind him there was 3 cars within 2 seconds.
How the bloody hell they would ever expect to stop if something happened i dont know.

When i was going for my licence (28 years ago) my instructor drummed into me 2 seconds in the dry 3 seconds in the wet,and it doesnt matter at what speed you are doing, i have always driven this way and never had any dramas.

IF everyone travelled at the 2 or 3 second rule then there would not be a problem and if something happens you have at least got a chance.

Next time you all go for a drive count the seconds and see how close you sit to the traffic in front of you, YOU MAY BE SUPRISED.

Well Fellas,.... I dont think we an fix any of this, but like many of you out there in the industry, we were taught at a young age. Some on dads knee steering up the road in underpowered ,noisey, uncomfortable old sweat boxes, and we loved it. We drove around farms with dad pokin us in the ribbs with a stick when we missed a gear. We learnt to change tyres, and fix things with wire to get home, It was all a learning curve. Its in our blood. We never had engine brakes,and foot brakes were poor compared to todays trucks. We learnt to slow down going down hill, because you never knew what was at the bottom, or round the next bend. It wasnt a race to get your load there first, just safely. Alot of companys dont let kids in trucks or on forklifts, But we drove loaders and trucks at an early age. We made mistakes in the yard, AND DAD KICKED OUR A#$. We learnt alot before we hit the roads. Alot dont have the chance to do that now. Get a licence from a Drivin school under controled conditions and you have a job. Practicle experiance nill. This is part of the problem. But thats just my theory. Seamed to work for me. I trained my son the same and he goes ok. Bit of a differance in trucks now, He had power steering, aircon, Horsepower And comfort. What will he teach his son in years to come.? Sometimes i love the good old days. DONT GET ME STARTED......... Tony

Tailgating is chronic over here, look at the trucks on the SE freeway. It is far more dangerous than running 10ks over down hill but I have never heard of anyone getting booked for it.
You only need to get around the block successfully in an empty truck to get your licence ( even I managed that) but the real learning is in the first couple of years on the road. There is no instructor, you have to go out loaded on all sorts of roads and drive a variety of vehicles with different faults and design quirks.