Interesting sequel to Hume Highway accident

[new2ford]

In today's news an interesting outcome of the recent crash in which a rig crossed to the wrong side of the road and killed a family of three:

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/d...223-1tpnd.html

Dump your truck: police tell of phone order to drivers
Rachel Olding
February 23, 2012 - 4:05PM

Drivers employed by the trucking company Lennons Transport Services have allegedly deserted their trucks and run as more illegally modified vehicles are tracked down and seized by investigators.

Police have now tracked down all of the company's 34 trucks across the country and say they have found many with speed limiters that have been tampered with to allow the trucks to travel above their 100km/h limit.

Overnight, Liverpool Highway Patrol officers located an unattended truck parked beside the Hume Highway at Casula.
Advertisement: Story continues below

Police will allege a mobile phone found inside the cab contained a message instructing the driver not to return to base.

Another truck was found at a premises in Wetherill Park without its driver.

Yesterday, Victorian Police found a truck abandoned on the side of the road. The driver had fled the scene and his log book was found in a nearby rubbish bin.

The phone number for Lennons headquarters in Enfield in western Sydney has been disconnected and the company's owner, Tony Lennon, has not responded to email requests from the Herald for comment.

Two trucks were intercepted by police and the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) on the Hume Highway in the southern highlands this morning, one after it failed to stop at a heavy vehicle checking station.

They were tracked down by Polair and escorted to the RMS inspection station at Marulun, near Goulburn.

The latest developments follow an unprecedented joint raid by police and RMS yesterday on the company's Enfield depot as part of their investigation into a fatal truck crash in Menangle on January 24.

Vincent Samuel George, 33, who worked for Lennons, has been charged with three counts of dangerous driving occasioning death over the crash on the Hume Highway that killed Donald and Patricia Logan, both 81, and their son Calvyn, 59.

Police will allege he was driving a truck at high speed after its speed limiter had been illegally modified, a practice that was systemic and "sanctioned from above" by the company.

Officers attached to Traffic and Highway Patrol Command and RMS inspectors launched Operation Marshall following the crash.

Police have allegedly found manipulated speed limiters on at least eight Lennons trucks.

They have also allegedly found falsified log books.

One driver who was pulled over near Marulun yesterday was allegedly in possession of cannabis and has been charged with severe fatigue-related offences after he had reportedly been driving for 17 hours in one day.

The NSW Police Force and the RMS are working with interstate authorities to locate four of the company's trucks, which remain on the roads.

The company's business practices will also come under the microscope as part of a broader chain-of-responsibility investigation by the RMS, the police have said.

No heavy vehicle trucks in Australia are allowed to travel above 100km/h and, since 1998, all new heavy vehicles are fitted with mechanical and computerised speed limiters to prevent them from reaching speeds above 100km/h.

Police have alleged the speed limiters in eight of Lennon's trucks had been tampered with to allow the vehicles to travel at speeds of up to 150km/h.

The vehicle's pulse wheel is tampered with which impacts on the speed limiting system of the truck.

Even more interesting reading this story and then going to the company's website:

http://www.lennons.com.au/

and reading some pages, particularly relating to safety and risk management!

How many of us have been doing 100 and passed by a truck like we're going backwards? Only hope that this leads to reforms but somehow doubt it, the way things are.

[mik]

very sad for the family`s and the occupant`s of the car, it appears the driver fell asleep, i suspect nothing to do with speed.

[Mechan1k]

It's a shame that a company was blatantly doing this sort of thing.

Brings a bad name to all the decent truck drivers out there on our roads.

[Bushbasher]

I bet there are more than a few trucks being hastily "de-tampered" as we speak for fear that the authorities will go on a rampage and check everyone once they've finished with Lennons. Let's hope the hunt goes beyond hammering the truckies who in more than a few cases are held to ransom and pressured into doing the tampering and speeding and the log book fiddling just to meet the unrealistic expectations of the real culprits who demand the fresh food and want to keep the prices down down down.

Mind you, if the real culprits are forced to stop holding a gun to the truckies heads I guess they'll just hold the gun to our heads at the bowser instead to keep the profit margin u.....oh wait, that's already happening............

[pottery beige]

been going on for years.....

[chevypower]

Wow, the government continues to always knows what is best for all of us. How lucky we all are to have the government protect us.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by new2ford

How many of us have been doing 100 and passed by a truck like we're going backwards?

i don't do a lot of interstate driving but do drive to bris (from adelaide) every year, and very rarely have i ever been passed by a truck in a 100 zone and probably never in a 110 zone.

these guys are a minority.

[2011G6E]

You've never been overtaken by a semi???
Don't know where you drive, but out here and along most of the Bruce Highway in central Queensland heavy semis that regularly go over 100 or 110kph are in the majority...I've followed big triples out west doing 130-plus, I've been overtaken and run off the road twice (once in my Celica, the other on my GSX1400 bike) when I've been doing 110 and a B-double has attempted to overtake and had to pull in when only halfway past me when traffic approached from the other way. I rang the cops about these two incidents, and they took the reports but said in a frustrated tone "We'll call the companies, but it's your word against theirs, and I've gotta tell you we get a lot of reports like this, but there's not a lot we can do. Sorry".

Not to mention the wonderful way they will happily tailgate you meters away, while at the same time telling use gravely not to tailgate them, as they gravely remind us how long it takes them to stop. I am assuming that if they are sitting right up your **** and you have to brake suddenly, they won't pull up quickly either? I was involved in a crash on the highway south of Rocky around New Years when a line of traffic was stopped for a truck rollover up ahead, on a long straight stretch near Bajool, when two cars behind me there was an almighty crash, as a b-double dump truck had barelled along and not even slowed down for the obviously stopped line of cars ahead of him. The big brave boy didn't steer off the road out of harms way...instead he steered straight into the on-coming traffic and had a head on with a pantech furniture van. Basically, if these things take so long to stop, shouldn't they be more careful than anyone else on the road, taking their time, going steadily to ensure they have plenty of room to stop?

The old lie about "it's the companies forcing us to speed" is just plain wrong as well...it's illegal to try and make someone else break the law for you, and if as claimed you have been given a schedule that means you couldn't possibly
get to where you are going without breaking the strict fatigue rules or speeding, then take it to the police as evidence and the owners will get into serious trouble, not you.

Trucks used to all have "100 speed limited" on the back...I haven't seen one for years now.
Then there's the fact that when B-doubles were first introduced, we were assured these monsters would never go on main highways...they would be solely used out west. Now they're everywhere, and you even see the odd triple on Highway One. The highways were never meant for these things, and the Capricorn highway out here had a recent audit that said it was carrying three times the heavy traffic it was designed to, which means they have virtual full-time roadworks crews out here repairing the damn thing.

Basically, a responsible government would get them all off the frigging roads which were never designed for them, and put the freight back on the railways where it belongs, with smaller trucks only used for going from the rail depot to the destination nearby at the other end.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Basically, a responsible government would get them all off the frigging roads which were never designed for them, and put the freight back on the railways where it belongs, with smaller trucks only used for going from the rail depot to the destination nearby at the other end.

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by prydey

How about explaining your position?

[351EL]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

put the freight back on the railways where it belongs, with smaller trucks only used for going from the rail depot to the destination nearby at the other end.

Rail companys arent interested in carrying what trucks are carrying I can tell you all they are interested in carrying is coal.
Until the rail companys are forced to carry the stuff that is road freighted it wont happen.

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

You've never been overtaken by a semi???
Don't know where you drive, but out here and along most of the Bruce Highway in central Queensland heavy semis that regularly go over 100 or 110kph are in the majority...I've followed big triples out west doing 130-plus, I've been overtaken and run off the road twice (once in my Celica, the other on my GSX1400 bike) when I've been doing 110 and a B-double has attempted to overtake and had to pull in when only halfway past me when traffic approached from the other way. I rang the cops about these two incidents, and they took the reports but said in a frustrated tone "We'll call the companies, but it's your word against theirs, and I've gotta tell you we get a lot of reports like this, but there's not a lot we can do. Sorry".

Not to mention the wonderful way they will happily tailgate you meters away, while at the same time telling use gravely not to tailgate them, as they gravely remind us how long it takes them to stop. I am assuming that if they are sitting right up your **** and you have to brake suddenly, they won't pull up quickly either? I was involved in a crash on the highway south of Rocky around New Years when a line of traffic was stopped for a truck rollover up ahead, on a long straight stretch near Bajool, when two cars behind me there was an almighty crash, as a b-double dump truck had barelled along and not even slowed down for the obviously stopped line of cars ahead of him. The big brave boy didn't steer off the road out of harms way...instead he steered straight into the on-coming traffic and had a head on with a pantech furniture van. Basically, if these things take so long to stop, shouldn't they be more careful than anyone else on the road, taking their time, going steadily to ensure they have plenty of room to stop?

The old lie about "it's the companies forcing us to speed" is just plain wrong as well...it's illegal to try and make someone else break the law for you, and if as claimed you have been given a schedule that means you couldn't possibly
get to where you are going without breaking the strict fatigue rules or speeding, then take it to the police as evidence and the owners will get into serious trouble, not you.

Trucks used to all have "100 speed limited" on the back...I haven't seen one for years now.
Then there's the fact that when B-doubles were first introduced, we were assured these monsters would never go on main highways...they would be solely used out west. Now they're everywhere, and you even see the odd triple on Highway One. The highways were never meant for these things, and the Capricorn highway out here had a recent audit that said it was carrying three times the heavy traffic it was designed to, which means they have virtual full-time roadworks crews out here repairing the damn thing.

Basically, a responsible government would get them all off the frigging roads which were never designed for them, and put the freight back on the railways where it belongs, with smaller trucks only used for going from the rail depot to the destination nearby at the other end.

go and sit back in your big comfy train on your big fat salary.. choo.. choo..

[NAK302]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Basically, a responsible government would get them all off the frigging roads which were never designed for them, and put the freight back on the railways where it belongs, with smaller trucks only used for going from the rail depot to the destination nearby at the other end.

absolutely agree here. how often do you drive down from say Bowen to Rocky and see freight trains with empty wagons, yet you're seeing a 50 or so heavy B-doubles.

at the moment there are more and more heavy trucks using the Peak Downs highway and litterally destroying it. some of these are triples full of gravel. yet 50m's from the side of the road is a huge rail network that is only utilised for coal transportation. rediculous

the less trucks on the roads the better, i say, regardless of where we live

[The G6ET Spot]

Originally Posted by GT-0733

the less trucks on the roads the better, i say, regardless of where we live

Yep get them all off the road, then you can go to the rail head to do your shopping and also get the petrol to put in your car.

Some people amaze me with stupid remarks like this. Have you ever thought as to why the freight is on trucks and not rail? It is because rail cannot compete with road transport for timeline as road will always be there quicker, even on speed limited trucks. Then there are people that just have to have everything overnight, good luck doing that on rail.

Originally Posted by Charliewool

Absolutely! (unless he's driving a bloody commer knocker)

I've done Laverton North to Yennora Wool centre (Guildford) in 8 and 1/2 hrs heaps of times.. and that was before Albury bypass.

Instead of taking my word, let's hear from Full Noise or GasOLane who do it for a job?

It has been 14 years since I ran the Hume. But even then with my truck speed limited (although it did do 103kph ) Campbellfied to Eastern Creek was done in a very comfortable 9.5hrs with a stop at Holbrook. I love the way people just assume things when they have no idea what is actual involved.

[NAK302]

Originally Posted by The G6ET Spot

Yep get them all off the road, then you can go to the rail head to do your shopping and also get the petrol to put in your car.

Some people amaze me with stupid remarks like this. Have you ever thought as to why the freight is on trucks and not rail? It is because rail cannot compete with road transport for timeline as road will always be there quicker, even on speed limited trucks. Then there are people that just have to have everything overnight, good luck doing that on rail.

you missed my point by a long way, old mate, and calling my comment stupid is quite insulting as i have an opinion based on where i live and the rail network that exists here.
you're comment is quite naive and unconstructive to my comment.
overnight in this neck of the woods is airfreight

[b0son]

Originally Posted by The G6ET Spot

Some people amaze me with stupid remarks like this. Have you ever thought as to why the freight is on trucks and not rail?

Some types of goods, aboslutely, could not be sent as effectively by rail (eg. perishables).

But we're comparing apples and oranges here. The trucking industry is heavily subsidised, and doesnt come close to paying its way (eg. truck rego costs should be far higher compared to cars on basis of kms travelled and damage done).

I'd rather see a system where the taxpayer isnt silently footing the bill. At least this way, rail might have a fair chance of establishing itself as a viable alternative to long range freight.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by GT-0733

absolutely agree here. how often do you drive down from say Bowen to Rocky and see freight trains with empty wagons, yet you're seeing a 50 or so heavy B-doubles.

On the other side of the coin is the number of Trucks I've seen with new railway sleepers (steel & concrete) taking them out to places where the old timber ones are being replaced.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

On the other side of the coin is the number of Trucks I've seen with new railway sleepers (steel & concrete) taking them out to places where the old timber ones are being replaced.

lol, that would never happen here, you've got the Railways Hate Society (Liberal-National Government) in charge and they are closing all the Tier 3 grain freight rail lines out in the bush. So how are the farmers going to get all their grain to the terminals now? That's right, putting more trucks on the road but the Government doesnt think so "no they won't derpy derp"

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by prydey

i don't do a lot of interstate driving but do drive to bris (from adelaide) every year, and very rarely have i ever been passed by a truck in a 100 zone and probably never in a 110 zone.

these guys are a minority.

Must be all a big joke then if 'you've' never actually seen it firsthand how scientific of you to conclude that.

I live close to a highway and I'd say like many others who've posted here.....I see it nearly every time I hit the highway. Always passed by trucks speeding! Often it's speeding up to make the next slope easier to climb.

What does everyone think of the famous..."without trucks, Australia stops" line???
Ive got news for them..while still very important(because of efficiency), obviously....without most trades and services Australia stops

What happens without police?.....
What happens without doctors?....
What happens without plumbers?.....

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

Must be all a big joke then if 'you've' never actually seen it firsthand how scientific of you to conclude that.

I live close to a highway and I'd say like many others who've posted here.....I see it nearly every time I hit the highway. Always passed by trucks speeding! Often it's speeding up to make the next slope easier to climb.

This would depend on the accuracy of your speedo.

Having spent the last 12 years running the Newell (and 30 years before that all over OZ) it is a very rare thing (these days) to see any Trucks going more than 5kmh over the open road limit

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

What does everyone think of the famous..."without trucks, Australia stops" line???
Ive got news for them..while still very important(because of efficiency), obviously....without most trades and services Australia stops

Seeing as all Supermarkets, Petrol Stations and most other stores require daily stock, If Trucks stop within 3 days there would be no food or fuel.

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

What happens without police?.....
What happens without doctors?....
What happens without plumbers?.....

And how do you think these services get their supplies........Taxi?

[Franco Cozzo]

Surely someone along the lines would have had to have serviced their trucks and noticed/reported on the issue when they worked on it?

I know that if I've worked on a customer's vehicle and I notice something thats additional to what I'm doing I always write it down and mention it.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Surely someone along the lines would have had to have serviced their trucks and noticed/reported on the issue when they worked on it?

I know that if I've worked on a customer's vehicle and I notice something thats additional to what I'm doing I always write it down and mention it.

Big trucking companies no doubt do most of their work in house I'd imagine? Hence pressure is probably put back on the mechanics who clear the trucks.
Either way, even if the work is out sourced, I'd imagine it wouldn't take much to 'make a deal'!
I also found it weird that truckies were getting away with fines because they couldn't pin point who was driving the truck at the time. I thought all that was regulated and drivers had to do logbooks. Hence if the books wearnt filled......there's another fine....on top of the fine for speeding that should have no bearing on who's driving anyway!

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Surely someone along the lines would have had to have serviced their trucks and noticed/reported on the issue when they worked on it?

I know that if I've worked on a customer's vehicle and I notice something thats additional to what I'm doing I always write it down and mention it.

In a perfect world, yes, but not all owners give a toss.
The owner at the centre of the story weve been discussing had only taken control of the company recently. From all reports his 'mechanic' had flagged the brake issue but at the end of the day it comes down to how the owner of the business views safety and wether he has the capital to get the work done.
We arent talking about Toll or Scotts here, this was a small operator with 20yr old trucks who by his own admission knows bugger all about how trucks function.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

This would depend on the accuracy of your speedo.

Having spent the last 12 years running the Newell (and 30 years before that all over OZ) it is a very rare thing (these days) to see any Trucks going more than 5kmh over the open road limit

Seeing as all Supermarkets, Petrol Stations and most other stores require daily stock, If Trucks stop within 3 days there would be no food or fuel.



And how do you think these services get their supplies........Taxi?

Where I am west of Brisbane.....the highways are rather hilly. I'm sure that's similar to many many highways around Australia. I'd love to hear the opinion of a truck driver as to how they approach these situations. As I've said. I've seen it many times, trucks speeding up for hills ahead.(let alone on the flats)
And even 5 Kay's over is a huge amount for a loaded tuck. They are limited to 100 for a reason. They don't handle or brake well......and as covered in the quoted article.....lots of people die when things go wrong.

And I never implied my opinion meant it was the 'majority' of trucks speed. Just my observation for where I live.(unlike the post that I quoted)

And I also didn't suggest trucks aren't important(I clearly stated otherwise)..... mearly a query as to why truckies think they're so important they can act like they're the 'only' needed commodity in our society. Without police for eg.....the streets would be a riot in hrs. No doctors and people would start dropping faster then flies.
Just food for thought really!

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

Where I am west of Brisbane.....the highways are rather hilly. I'm sure that's similar to many many highways around Australia. I'd love to hear the opinion of a truck driver as to how they approach these situations. As I've said. I've seen it many times, trucks speeding up for hills ahead.(let alone on the flats)
And even 5 Kay's over is a huge amount for a loaded tuck. They are limited to 100 for a reason. They don't handle or brake well......and as covered in the quoted article.....lots of people die when things go wrong.

Yes, I've been down the Gap and the Range more times than I'd care to think, however 5k's over is nothing. (On the Newell most HP cars will let you get away with 5k)
As for not stopping or handling, most modern Trucks are more Hi-tech than many cars. This is how well they can stop....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ridS396W2BY

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

I also found it weird that truckies were getting away with fines because they couldn't pin point who was driving the truck at the time. I thought all that was regulated and drivers had to do logbooks. Hence if the books wearnt filled......there's another fine....on top of the fine for speeding that should have no bearing on who's driving anyway!

Knowing who was driving which truck and when is dead simple, and the Office will not wear a fine when it can be passed on to the Driver.

Compared to car drivers, Log Book fines are huge. I haven't been booked for one for years so not sure of the fine scale, but FULL NOISE may be able to help here.

[new2ford]

Unfortunately the rail network has been so run down and neglected for decades as the money has been poured into roads that rail freight probably no longer has the capacity to take over any role (the best being bulk freight, not the local stuff). We get what we vote for.

It will also be interesting as to whether there is any follow up on allowing B doubles on the Gwydir Highway as the recent accident that killed a bus driver involved the back trailer sliding out on a sharp bend and the bus being hit by the middle tri-axle. It probably wouldn't have happened if it was only a semi-trailer, not a B double.

But as long as the road transport industry holds politicians by the short and curlies I'm not optimistic. Those cops out west are right - "not a lot we can do", but get over it and wait for the next accident.

Originally Posted by mik

i suspect nothing to do with speed.

Read the article again.

[falconboy]

How do they get away with it though, don't heavy vehicles get checked by that safe-t-cam or whatever it is that ensures they haven't travelled between 2 points too quickly?

[csv8]

What ? they couldn't blame speeding!!! be hard for the cops to take!!

[max_torq]

I spend a bit of time on the highways with my business, and most of the time the trucks are safe and predictable at 100km. Get on the Hume after dark and it suddenly changes, there are more cowboys still out there than you would expect. One time when I was overtaking a truck on Wrights hill, a another truck poking out of a rest-stop forced him to slow down and he couldn't swerve into my lane because I was there. This p***ed him off so he chased down me the highway to Tarcutta. I couldn't get clear of him, and I'm no slouch, he was so fast; it was like the movie "Duel". Coming into Tarcutta he tailgated me so I put the hazard blinkers on as I proceeded him through the town, then left him in the hills to the north. There was no way he was speed limited to 100kph.

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by 351EL

Rail companys arent interested in carrying what trucks are carrying I can tell you all they are interested in carrying is coal.
Until the rail companys are forced to carry the stuff that is road freighted it wont happen.

They are most certainly interested in bulk long-distance freight but the infrastructure isn't up to it for them.

Originally Posted by max_torq

I spend a bit of time on the highways with my business, and most of the time the trucks are safe and predictable at 100km. Get on the Hume after dark and it suddenly changes, there are more cowboys still out there than you would expect.

I have a lot of respect for good truck drivers (who are probably the majority). I used to spend a lot of time on the Hume Highway at night and I certainly preferred to share the road with them than car drivers who don't have a clue what they're doing.

Having said that, like you, I've seen a lot of stupidly wild driving that is definitely over-speed and unsafe. It's like a lottery - you can get away with it most of the time but when you "lose" the results are tragic. There is too little regulation and enforcement. If air pilots, ship skippers and train drivers (even bus drivers) drove that way and had that accident rate they'd lose their job (their career in fact) and get hauled over multiple legal coals. But politicians are irrational - when there's a spate of level crossing accidents they reduce the train speed limits, not go after the real culprits. Even post-Kerang I've seen photos by loco drivers of semis speeding across level crossings right in front of trains. This trash has to be weeded out of the industry and the industry well and truly sorted. But it won't happen - there's a flurry after each bad accident then it all dies down and gets forgotten, helped by a little political lobbying by the industry.