Nearly four years after it began, the Rollover Prevention Safer Journeys programme is still going strong…and is as relevant as ever.
The programme is a joint initiative between the Road Transport Forum and New Zealand Transport Agency and is supported by ACC and the Police.
Workshops around the country are organised in collaboration with RTF's three associations – National Road Carriers, Road Transport Association NZ and the NZ Trucking Association.
The programme's seminar-style workshop is expertly presented by NZTA's Jeff Fleury. Jeff is a highly regarded vehicle safety specialist and, with over 40 years of experience and plenty of time around the heavy vehicle sector, there isn't much he hasn't seen when it comes to the things that can go wrong.
In 2019 Jeff undertook 29 presentations to almost 1000 participants, bringing the total number of drivers who have engaged with the programme since it began – way back in April 2016 – to nearly 6300, across around 160 meetings.
"I'd hate to the think of the miles I have covered to deliver the programme during that time, says Jeff: "Often, within the space of a few days, I'm doing workshops in the Far North, right down to the Deep South – and plenty in between.
"The fact is though that I don't mind the travel too much. I know what an important message it is and I actually feel pretty privileged to be the one entrusted with it."
Jeff is Dunedin-based and makes no secret about his provincial parochialism: "Yeah, I've hammered the old Highlanders rugby jersey quite a bit – I've probably done half the workshops wearing that jersey.
"It's a good wee conversation starter though and helps break the ice. The drivers I go and see can tell straight away that I'm not some sort of pointy-headed bureaucrat coming to wag my finger at them. I'm a regular bloke just like them and I understand the skill it takes to safely pilot a truck around NZ's roading network."
Jeff has done some interesting presentations recently: Late 2019 saw him run a workshop for 200 staff at EROAD, developers of one of the industry's leading electronic fleet management systems.
"Over time, the programme has been tweaked a little and when it came to the EROAD workshop I included a case study where I used EROAD data of a double fatality accident, where it was suggested the truck-trailer speed was too great for the signposted corner. The data proved it wasn't.
"Overall the thing that has changed the most hasn't really been the content of the programme – more the delivery," explains Jeff.
"I now really emphasise the responsibility that drivers have to prevent rollover and make sure they remain safe on the road.
"Plenty of people make mistakes on our roads all the time, but most of those are amateurs. A truck driver is a professional and with that professionalism comes a heightened level of accountability to do the very best they can to avoid serious incidents."
Jeff has been known to run seminars at all hours of the day and night to fit in with drivers' schedules. A workshop starting at 5am, before drivers head out on deliveries, is definitely not unheard of!
It's this commitment to the cause that saw Jeff awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Training Award at the 2016 NZ Road Transport Industry Awards. The intervening years have seen no letup in that commitment.
Because Jeff undertakes the rollover prevention programme on top of his normal duties at NZTA, RTF and its associations try to work with him to organise a workshop schedule that is sympathetic to the amount of travel that's required. It is therefore helpful if operators can be flexible with their dates so we can group workshops together in the various regions.
There is already plenty of interest for more workshops this year, so if your company is keen in running one for your drivers, please get in touch with your local association area executive or email mark@rtf.nz.
More information on the programme and a registration-of-interest form are available at www.rtfnz.co.nz.