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Dear David and Christopher

Thank you for opening up the discussion. These are significant contributions to directing our thoughts toward the human aspect of road transport. The driver is key to any of our endeavors in road transport and is worthy of deep consideration in this regard. Truck driving is hardly a profession that youth aspire to, rather it has become a "job of last resort". What is significant though is that on average a driver in our fleet earns more than a junior manager or administrator in our office.

We operate in an industry that is heavily regulated, and at an operator level we often try to confine the driver's activities to strict schedules and procedures. We often have an almost mechanical expectation of the driver.

One of the change points for us at an operator level has been to provide training of the drivers that offer them deeper understanding of the components of a truck and how they work together in order to improve their understanding of what they do and to try to offer them a more cognitive role. Previously they relied on doing things without knowing why. Each person has a desire to feel as if they have some autonomy in what they do and a sense of purpose. I believe that at a foundational level we need to provide a platform for the driver to build his own self respect through providing meaningful work engagement and feedback on work performance also in a meaningful way. For the driver to be motivated toward optimum performance, we need to motivate him intrinsicly.

Sharing of information around what each operator has done in this regard certainly does help. In one of his workshops, Paul Nordengen showed results from one of the companies on the RTMS path that held a competition for logistics teams within a company where they created safety videos. These kinds of collaborative activities create better teams and not only improve interpersonal dynamics, but boost self esteem as well as elevating how the role of a driver is viewed within the organisation.

I do agree that the way society views a truck driver would benefit significantly through industry association activities, and that these should in some way become priority activities. The question is how do we create actionable projects with measurable outputs around this.With road transport assets becoming increasingly more sophisticated we need to be able to attract drivers who are talented and motivated.

With best regards and warm wishes for a wonderful festive season

Abdool (AK)

On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 3:08 PM, Christopher Walker <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

HI David

Thanks for circulating this information and raising these questions.

I agree with you that the social standing of the profession of truck driving is a critical element of the broader social acceptance and support the industry receives from the wider community.

Certainly the limited amount of comparative work we have done between Australia and Sweden on the trial of the IAP showed that in different contexts, the level of respect and regard for the trucking profession has an impact on the level of responsibility and expectations placed on drivers and on how they might contribute or be seen as part of broader road transport policy initiatives, like improving industry compliance and safety.

However, I believe a critical aspect for achieving movement or a lift in the social standing of truck driving as a profession is the role industry associations play. Industry associations need to play a central role in advocating for greater professionalisation of drivers and like your career path poster, they need to demonstrate to potential employees that real career paths exist for interested and committed people. This is central in addressing both the driver shortage that most countries face over the coming decade and in lifting the professional standing of the job of being a ’trick driver’. Of course a major barrier to this is the structure of the industry with its general reliance on contracting and owner drivers – so in this context, well structured career paths are difficult to map out beyond those employed within large logistics firms. So the industry has a real challenge in this area, but this is a fundamentally important task if things are to improve into the future.

Thanks again for raising the questions and it will be interesting to see how different countries respond to this challenge over the next few years.

Regards

Chris

Dr Christopher Walker | Head of School | School of Social Sciences | Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences | UNSW Australia
T: +61 (2) 9385 3571 | T: +61 (2) 9385 1833 | E: [log in to unmask]

School Web Site: http://socialsciences.arts.unsw.edu.au/
CRICOS Provider Code. 00098G

Recent: Walker C (2016) ‘Neoliberalism and the reform of regulation policy in the Australian trucking sector: policy innovation or a repeat of known pitfalls?’, Policy Studies, Vol. 37, No.1, pp. 72 – 92
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01442872.2015.1108402

From: "Technical, operational and economic aspects of road freight transportation" <ROAD-TRANSPORT-TECHNOLOGY@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> on behalf of David Rogers <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: David Rogers <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, 15 December 2016 8:59 am
To: "ROAD-TRANSPORT-TECHNOLOGY@JISCMAIL.AC.UK" <ROAD-TRANSPORT-TECHNOLOGY@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Subject: Heavy Truck Drivers Social Respect

Hi All

At the recent HVTT14 conference John Woodroofe presented a paper titled

PERFORMANCE BASED STANDARDS ENABLING TRANSPORT DECARBONISATION (paper attached)

This paper referred to the Societal Impact on the development of PBS to improve the operation of heavy vehicle combinations for future sustainable transport

From this I raised the question of the social standing of a heavy truck driver this drew applause from the conference and a number of discussion at tea breaks from this I was encouraged to raise the issue for discussion and debate

My view is until the social respect of a heavy truck driver is lifted to that of a Regional Airline Pilot, The Master Coastal Ship, influencing policy will be difficult as the community does not have any consideration/respect for the skills, responsibility and confidence required to operate a heavy truck combination safely and efficiently

To develop debate/ discussion I have attached a Career Path Poster to show the industry offers a career path one of the issues parents and the community do not understand and along with this I have attached the current qualifications available to the industry

To break the implementation barrier John refers to I believe the increase of social respect of a truck driver will influence community understanding and acceptance of the need for the changes to implement the Societal Issues referred to in the paper

Societal value standards (Policy maker toolbox)

• Safety (Road crash casualties)

• Public health

• Mobility (congestion)

• Decarbonisation

• Infrastructure consumption (per unit cargo)

• Economic impact

• Sustainability

Where to from here, this an opportunity for IFRTT to lead industry to develop the study and research of “Societal Benefits”.

Societal changes required can not be made with a few calculations, a welder, a large hammer and some spanners. It requires a different consideration of all personal aspects of the Community and the understanding of Policy Makers and Politicians

If the Social Respect of drivers is improved, they are the face of the industry and their influence in the community would improve the acceptance of changes to enhance the development PBS to improve the operation of heavy vehicle combinations for future sustainable transport

Remember “The only delivery not made by a Truck is a Baby”

I have sent this communication by way of an email to allow for those wishing to contribute or debate the string can be followed

Kind Regards

DavidRogers

TIL - Transport Investments Ltd

Mobile - 0274 434 120 | [log in to unmask]" target="_blank">[log in to unmask]

330 Devon Steet East, New Plymouth

NEW ZEALAND OWNED | NEW ZEALAND WIDE
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL LOGISTICS

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