Attending the TMC Trucking Industry Show last weekend I sat in on the Friday afternoon lecture sessions. One of the guest speakers in the Women in Transport presentation was Casuarina Smith from Australia. For those who don’t know her, Casuarina works in the West Australian mining industry driving road trains and has established a significant social media following under her brand Trucking with CJ. She documents her day-to-day life in a FIFO (fly-in fly-out) job, demonstrates various aspects of road train driving, and promotes entry into the industry aimed at the younger generation in particular.

In the lead-up to the Christchurch event she and her partner Aaron had been touring, mainly through the North Island. In her address CJ commented on the lack of facilities for truck drivers in New Zealand, saying she thought Australia left quite a bit to be desired in places, but discovering her own country’s short comings are nothing compared with ours. It’s worth noting the angle CJ takes in most of her content intentionally steers clear of gender as the basis for perspective, and so her comments on this subject were a generalisation across all genders and age.

Those who listen to our own podcast show, Chicks Chat hosted by Maddy McCoid and Morgan Peterson will know the number one recurring subject among the female drivers they interview is the appalling state of facilities in their field of work – both private and public. Their content is female specific, however anyone in trucking here knows what it’s like to have an undignified toilet stop at some place you are able to get a 23m rig off the road safely.

Speaking about the committal of public monies, it’s a travesty we continue to assign significant funds to superfluous accoutrements when building new road infrastructure, choosing to treat with contempt those using the structures to deliver the fundamentals of modern life.

It should boil our industry’s blood, not to mention those who represent it on our behalf.

I’ve been in this position just on a decade now, and have seen absolutely no progress on this issue.

Why not build proper pull-off bays for load checking, with a toilet block and a couple of picnic tables? The latter two could be decorated to the nth degree – make the toilet block in the shape of a plant or frog if needed, but get the fundamentals right first!

Undoubtedly there will be excuses as to why they couldn’t possibly include such facilities and amenities. The problem here though is the ‘emphasis’ regulators and government departments place on health and safety. Make no mistake, a truck driver busting for a toilet stop is a distracted participant.

As long as one truck driver has to park on the shoulder of a busy road so he or she can crap behind a flax bush, the pressure they bring to bear on business and enterprise in New Zealand under the sceptre of the words ‘Health’ and ‘Safety’ should be met with ferocious and passionate rebuttal from us.

All the best,

Dave McCoid
Editorial Director