Thread: Police target truckies in Australia wide blitz

Originally Posted by donh54

But apparently, according to some, if you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear!

Agreed, and I have seen it first hand where an over-zealous officer, caught up in the whirlwind of trying to provide stats for the operation(which they are under pressure to get) will give an infringement notice for something that was later proved in court as incorrect. The PROBLEM is, that the truckie has to appear in court to contest said infringement, in the area which he was alleged to have offended. Which often means(for interstaters) the truckie has to take time off work, fly to that location and defend a fine which might have been $500. It costs the truckie way too much to do so, so he chooses just to pay the fine and move on. Justice denied.

This is the most recent complaint in Big Rigs:

Originally Posted by Gordie

Yes, the stats get 'milked' a bit as usual. They only test the ones they suspect, not every truckie gets tested. Would be more like 15 out of 1000 trucks stopped. And as with every industry, there are always going to be the small minority that do the wrong thing.

i dont care if they pulled over 100,000 trucks. 15 is 15 too many.

Originally Posted by Eevo

i dont care if they pulled over 100,000 trucks. 15 is 15 to many.

And I agree....but my point was that they like to sensationalise the stats. For some reason, truck drivers in Australia are generally demonised.

Originally Posted by Gordie

For some reason, truck drivers in Australia are generally demonised.

you have seen the garden grove thread right?

Originally Posted by Eevo

you have seen the garden grove thread right?

Thankyou...you have proved my point exactly...a whole industry judged by the deeds of a few idiots. I have worked in all sorts of industries, including some that are supposedly staffed by upstanding reputable people...but I have found idiots in each of those industries. Don't judge the majority by the actions of the minority.

Originally Posted by Gordie

Thankyou...you have proved my point exactly...a whole industry judged by the deeds of a few idiots. I have worked in all sorts of industries, including some that are supposedly staffed by upstanding reputable people...but I have found idiots in each of those industries. Don't judge the majority by the actions of the minority.

it's no different to car drivers. and yes, i think more drug testing should be done on car drivers too.

Originally Posted by Eevo

article last night on adelaide now. 15 out of 500 tested

I would not believe a word of that article... The statistics are all over the place...

Like the last paragraph about last years blitz, 4400+ and then they state nearly half arrested, reported or issued... Then it state 774 cautions...

When you start reading all that crap you know full well its far from the truth, so far its just about falling off the cliff...

A caution means nothing, when it comes to being cautioned by police or heavy vehicle cops, thats because they havent got anything to actually charge you so they act all tough and caution you...
Any fine in heavy vehicles is double the norm for car drivers and if they find you have put the pen in the wrond place on your dashboard, they will charge you...
Same as log book faults, the east counts the hours back, not for one day, but for weeks back and can find you for one little hiccup...

Here in WA our books are based on 24 hrs and the break in between starts it again, not counted back for each day, counting the current...

Media do love writing fiction to justify there support to get stories, pity they dont tell the truth...Like how many break ins in the last 24 hrs or the number of elderly assaulted!