Sometime ago National Road Freighters Association (NRFA) past president Rod Hannifey wrote to all state enforcement agencies (police) seeking leniency when dealing with truck drivers on the roadside with minor work and rest hour breaches and mistakes within the work diary.
The unanimous response was that police can only enforce what is in the law and there is no leniency written into the law.
The NRFA now calls for the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) to include the NHVR’s enforcement policy of: “Inform, Educate and Enforce” for all on road enforcement agencies.
The NHVR’s response to the HVNL Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement, stated the following: The NHVR’s Regulatory Intervention Strategy (endorsed as part of the National Regulatory Model) supports an “Inform, Educate and Enforce” approach to compliance that would ensure drivers aren’t unfairly fined for minor work and rest hour breaches.
The NHVR has been adopting a successful risk-based approach to compliance activities for several years now and this has been acknowledged by the heavy vehicle industry.
This approach adopts an “Inform, Educate and Enforce” approach to heavy vehicle compliance activities.
The NHVR supports changes to the fatigue laws that provide NHVR safety and compliance officers with more ability and tools to better utilise this approach with the heavy vehicle industry, including the ability to issue formal warnings without current constraints.
NRFA members and the broader transport community acknowledge these enforcement changes made by the NHVR have made interceptions more friendly and proactive towards safety, yet we still must deal with a different set of rules when dealing with Police.
The NRFA are seeking support from industry to encourage all state transport ministers to adopt the NHVR strategy of “Inform, Educate and Enforce” and have it included in the pending release of the HVNL 2.
Having these three little words “Inform, Educate and Enforce” included in HVNL will enable a uniform approach to on road enforcement from all enforcement agencies and ensure that all drivers are treated reasonably and with respect for minor matters regarding work diary discretions.
It will go a long way to removing the negativity within industry caused by the current unbalanced enforcement approach.
It will give all drivers, new and old, the chance to learn from their mistakes, instead of being turned off our industry for good after receiving excessive penalties for minor and low risk breaches or mistakes.
Over the coming months prior to the HVNL 2 legislative package being delivered to the transport ministers in December, the NRFA is seeking meetings with all state transport ministers to discuss the need to have these three little words included in the HVNL.
We don’t need to convene another round of reviews and consultations to make this simple change to the law, just acknowledge what has been proven to work and do it.
This is a decision transport ministers can make knowing full well that it is already proven a success by the NHVR whom they all task with the enforcement of HVNL within their states.
Glyn Castanelli is a former truckie and current president of the National Road Freighters Association.
[signup]
The post Three little words that will help keep truckies behind the wheel appeared first on Big Rigs.