Dave this is a topic that really needs revisiting. At one stage I had a record of the log truck prangs/mortality/morbidity stats.
If you have time or anyone else for that matter I would be very interested to know (where to get current stats??) the stats for this year.
I suspect its at least 20 log truck accidents this year…maybe more. To me it is important to look at this because it goes to another of the understated costs the community pays for the woodchip industry and the state governments permissive regulatory regime around it - including modes of transport for logs.
Yesterday whilst driving between riverside and legana on the W.T H,way i witnessed a full laden school bus squeezed between two of these fully laden log trucks. I immediately thought of how often such a scene might be repeated in the early and late hours of the winter months in a post-pulp mill Tamar Valley.

Like you, Pilko, I’d like to know if there is a source of official statistics on road smashes involving log trucks.

For some time, I’ve been disturbed at the high number of “accidents” involving log trucks.  It seems way out of proportion to the number of these vehicles on the road.  I’ve been keeping a file on the smashes reported in the media, but unfortunately these incidents have become so common that they don’t always get reported.

In case you missed it, a press release appeared on TT a while back re Workplace Standards conducting safety checks on log trucks leaving Gunns Triabunna mill.  Every truck was found to have one or more safety problems:

http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/
pr-article/transport-safety-issues-exposed-by-log-truck-blitz/

Kim Booth should know where to find the stats Pilko.

Yeah, I was heading to Westbury on the back road at Birralee yesterday and drew a breath as one hammered round a corner toward me….he just crossed the line but the lean and the sway….he was on the edge….obviously on contract, not hourly…

The current condition of Tasmanian roads, with ONLY those that will be used by log truck traffic, it’s way past time that Tasmnanians really started to wonder just whom is the Govt. in this State !

    From where i sit we taxpayers are being forced to spend money on the specific roads to be used by Tamanian Forestry, and or Gunn’s and co whilst the midlands highway and others are constantly deteriorating,  and the ongoing costs that will be generated by such trucks will be horrific, also to be met by we , the taxpayers.
                      d.d.

Every time you travel the Poatina Rd you are taking your life in your hands. Coming back from fishing at Arthurs Lake I was held up up by this accident and all I can say is God help any one if they were coming up and met this truck at the time of the accident. I was held up at 6 o’clock in the afternoon and there were log trucks still coming up to pick up more logs. What time would these trucks be returning and how many hours are these drivers doing to make a living, no wonder accidents are happening.

Just imagine you come over the crest on top of Glengarry Hill, on the Frankford “Highway” driving east towards Exeter, and you are confronted by an empty Log Truck coming up hill with half the width over the double white line because they just passing a couple of (full) Milk Tankers this on the steepest part of the hill.
This is a funeral in preparation!
Hope they put up a warning sign to tell the blokes:
Just don’t do it!!
We should just position someone there with a good video and still camera.
click & snap -  JUST LIKE THAT!

Most of our roads are not in good enough condition to take the amount of truck traffic they do. These poor drivers have to put up with little or no hard edge and soft edges with no outside line marking. Quite often these roads are steep and winding. If they are a log truck there is a extra problem as by the very nature of these trucks they are more unstable due to having the high cage so that logs can be lifted on and off.
I recently spoke to the Minister for Infrastructure, Graeme Sturges, at the Beaconsfield community forum, about my concerns over the condition of the Batman Highway, the Batman Bridge and the amount of truck traffic. I finally received a letter informing me that
“The Batman Highway forms part of the Westbury-BellBay freight route and carries approx. 2,500 vehicles a day, with 16% of thes being heavy vehicles. In a regional ans State-wide context, the route provides an imprtant strategic freight corridor linking the north east of Tasmania and Bell Bay to the ports of the north-west coast.
The West Tamar Corridor Study identified and prioritised a number of improvements on this route and works have been completed at each end of the Batman Highway. The State Government made a submission to Infrastructure Australia i 2008/09, seeking funds to undertake further upgrades, including improvements on the remainder of the length of the Batman Highway. Unfortunately, this submission was not successful and there are no Batman Highway projects on the forward works program at this time.”
So even though this is a major truck route to Bell Bay which is narrow, winding, with no hard edge (how the hell it gets classed as a highway is beyond me) and used by many log trucks the government is not interested in making it safer. How many poor log trucks drivers have to have accidents before this is taken seriously.

I would encourage anyone with spare time and video camera to cover and report on illegal log truck movements in the Tamar Valley. This is an aspect of a post-pulp mill Tamar valley that has been well and truly neglected in the debate over the last few years.
The West Tamar Council and the LCC to a lesser degree have failed as far as I can see to make any noise on behalf the community to ensure that Gunns and the govt stick to their promise to get the logs off the roads and onto rail.
B-double log trucks should have been phased out in Tasmania by now, yet we are - in the Tamar Valley faced with the unholy prospect of a kind, clever, connected local Tamar valley road network plagued with a doubling of these antiquated agents of destruction.

How does that fit in with the premiers vision as stated in his recent address to national press club? ...

“Tasmania’s future does not lie in the massive bulk exports of raw materials, it lies in low volume high quality, high value exports.  To do that we need to re-think our logistics, transport systems that are low emissions intelligent systems…It’s about our skills sector, science, and innovative agribusiness.  It’s about transforming our logistics into smart, low emission transport systems, and drawing more people to visit our State through our growing food and wine tourism sector.  That is a clever Tasmania in action” ( Premier David Bartlett, October 2009)

A ‘clever Tasmania’ would vote out david Bartlett.
The redneck ,bogan image hangs around the neck of this state like a long dead fish, and the fish rots from the head.Labour in Tasmania cultivates the cultural image of a junk yard guard dog.
Them as can do,do;them as can’t get jobs as politicians.

From memory, the Gunnerment stopped recording log truck accidents as separate in their accident stats.  By strange coincidence this occurred in 2005, thei first year of the pulp mill battle and when people began to point out the risk of increased log trucks on our roads!

I have a friend who drives a log truck,he is a diabetic and has had several crashes due to passing out.he is now suffering from double vision but his doctor who is in league with the timber industry refuses to help him get on a dsp.only a matter of time before he is involved in a major crash.

(11)
      Crud old Buddy, i think it may be encumbent upon you to inform the relevant authorities ! as if he does in fact have an accident he may take others with him. Christ ! imagine a school bus ! doesn’t bear thinking about.

      My dad is in his nineties and they kept re-knewing his licence ! though , i knew without question he was not responsible, and i had to inform the relevant people of such .
      I think it is encumbent upon us all , though it may be difficult at the time.

              ciao,
                  d.d.

Of course #11 it MUST be the doctors fault AND timber industries fault that he is still drving. What about him taking responsibility for his own actions, recognising that he is not fit to drive a truck! What about YOU some so-called friend doing sweet f-all to help your friend out. Amazing how quick you are to point the finger of blame (alebit prior to an accident) at an industry OR doctor that sees a patient for some 10-15 minutes every now and again. You and your friend need to take some responsibility on yourselves.