The voices of Australia‘s truck drivers have been heard loud and clear in national truck law review, as the Australian Trucking Association and Big Rigs have shared the first round of feedback from their ‘Heavy Vehicle Law – Have Your Say‘ campaign with the National Transport Commission. 

ATA CEO Ben Maguire said the campaign has had an overwhelming response, with drivers extremely engaged and willing to share their thoughts on the national truck laws and what they would like to see fixed.

“We have had a social media reach of more than 150,000 and received more than 60 pieces of constructive feedback that we have now handed over to the NTC for their consideration,” Maguire said. 

“We‘re committed to making sure the views of Australia‘s truck drivers are fairly represented in the review, because these laws affect them on a day-to-day basis. Their input is essential,” he said. 

Big Rigs editor James Graham was also thrilled with the response from the title‘s 48,000 Facebook followers. 

“The bulk of our readers are the hard-working men and women on the front line of the road transport industry who will be directly impacted by future law changes,” Graham said. 

“It was vital that they had a platform from which their voices could be heard, and the partnership with the ATA has done just that. 

“It‘s also been encouraging to get assurances from the policy bosses at the NTC that they welcome this type of input and are taking every last word on board from Big Rigs‘ readers and the ATA. Remember, this could be our only chance for an overdue shake-up of these laws for some time, so we‘ll be keeping these channels open as long as we can to ensure we all get the best possible new HVNL for the industry,” he said. 

Maguire and Graham presented the first round of campaign feedback to NTC executive leader, productivity Paul Davies in Melbourne, in conjunction with the ATA‘s 2019 Technology and Maintenance Conference. 

“The NTC really values the approach taken by the ATA and Big Rigs in collecting advice from drivers across the country. It‘s helped the review reach a broader audience and get the perspective of those that experience the law in practice every day, as well as some ideas for fixes, which is crucial for us to have to propose improvements,” Davies said. 

“I thank the ATA and Big Rigs for their initiative. It‘s well-timed for this next phase of the review as we shift gears from issues to solutions,” he said. 

Maguire said the ATA and Big Rigs would continue to seek feedback via their respective Facebook channels and the campaign‘s SMS and email hotlines for the duration of the review.