ROAD TO CHANGE Witness to the carnage
If you are in a battle with a truck, you aren’t going to win, says Daryl
DARYL Dickenson isn’t a stranger to tragedy on the road.
With more than 3 million kilometres under his belt during his 30-year trucking career, he has lost friends, family and colleagues in crashes.
And as someone regularly behind the wheel of a 40-60 tonne vehicle, he is still shocked by the risks motorists take, all to save a few seconds.
“Some of the car drivers on the road are playing Russian roulette,” Mr Dickenson said.
“We have seen drivers die due to no fault of their own. I’ve been to accidents where people have lost their limbs. Every truck driver has seen their share of close calls.”
As owner of Daryl Dickenson Transport at Yatala, he and wife Tracie manage more than 50 drivers delivering steel to major capital cities and as far north as Cairns.
“I don’t believe a lot of car drivers really know how much you can see when you are in the cab of a truck,” he said.
“Texting is the worst problem, but you also see a huge amount of unrestrained children and car drivers who seem to forget the mass they are dealing with when they try to overtake a truck.”
A 2017 National Transport Insurance Report found more than 90 per cent of major crash fatalities involving trucks were caused by errors on the part of the driver of the lighter vehicle.
“The biggest issues we see are to do with merging and overtaking. It takes at least a 100m to stop a truck with emergency brakes – and that is just going at 60km/h,” Mr Dickenson said.
“I leave six car lengths, but you see people squeeze in only metres in front. A small hatchback can practically disappear from your vision.
“If you are in a battle with a truck, you aren’t going to win.”
With truckies spending so much time on the road, Mr Dickenson said that under the law of averages it was inevitable accidents would occur.
But he was adamant truckies were among the safest drivers on the roads.
“The number of people using trucks as a way to end their life is also an issue,” he said. “I know of a driver who was slammed into head-on. He did everything he could but the emotional toll that had on him was huge. He never worked again.”
Mr Dickenson said he was sick of the stigma truck drivers carried.
“We are always seen as the bad guys. People see us as blokes in pluggers and a singlet with no sense, but we are professionals,” he said.
“I run a business that turns over $12 million a year and each vehicle is worth at least $300,000 and equipped with the most hi-tech safety gear.
“Every minute we have on the road is documented, our speeds are physically limited. I don’t think we can say the same for everyone out there.
“We are just like anyone else, we just want to get home to our families too.”