To be fair it’s just most Australians are aggro cunts
Comment on Decision to allow wider truck bodies paves way for electrification of big rigs in Australia
fruitleatherpostcard@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Seeing as how the majority of truck drivers here in Australia are complete aggro cunts, this should be marvellous as they’ll be able to destroy even more innocent drivers.
Nath@aussie.zone 11 months ago
If I had to work on the road full time, I’m sure my patience would also be limited. We’re talking about an increase of 5cm to the width of the trucks. Nobody is going to notice.
Echinoderm@aussie.zone 11 months ago
I don’t know about that. When I used to ride a bike to work near a busy truck route, I felt like the truck drivers were the most courteous and conscious of keeping a safe distance. Normal car drivers were a mixed bag: usually not a problem, but not reliable enough to trust. But bus drivers… it felt like bus drivers were actively pissed off by the existence of cyclists.
unionagainstdhmo@aussie.zone 11 months ago
Without Trucks Australia Stops!
fruitleatherpostcard@lemm.ee 11 months ago
How about a rail freight network that works?
Nope. Truck unions bribed hard enough for that not to happen.
DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de 11 months ago
This is a very common “fuck cars” solution but it’s not clear exactly what is envisaged.
Rail is currently used only for single commodities. In west aus for example grain is hauled from farms to bins in trucks, then bins to ports by rail. Obviously you can’t send trains to every paddock in every farm.
For mixed freight, a grocer 500km from Perth can order whatever at 5pm and have it arrive by trucj at 12pm, ready for it to be shelved ready for sale the next morning.
High speed freight rail just isn’t viable for WA given the low population density. Even if it were, I wonder at whether mixed freight in such short time frames is possible.
fruitleatherpostcard@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Yes I agree that a mixed method is best. However the current predominant method of road is unsustainable and dangerous. For instance, there is no excuse for an expanded east coast line not doing more to service various hubs which trucks can then the ‘final mile’ (yes I know; many 10’s of Ks) delivery.
Wiggles@aussie.zone 11 months ago
Unfortunately we don’t have a rail freight network that either works well or reaches every township in Australia, and until we do encouraging the switch from ICE road haulage to EV road haulage is the best way to reduce transport industry emissions.
For a lot of the more rural towns (or a least for the ones I know of) that do have rail connections, they are only accessible using diesel locomotives as there is no electricity network set up to power electric trains. So if we don’t want to introduce more emissions from rail freight we would have to electrify the whole rail network.
Realistically we should be building rail and allowing EV trucks to be more accessible, but Australia is a big place, building all that rail infrastructure will take time. A good stepping stone would be to build rail connections to regional urban centres and then have trucks distributing it to the surrounding towns, but even building that much rail will take time. And that’s just the construction. The amount of time it would take to secure the land corridors for the rail would be considerable alone. AEMO have been having a difficult enough time securing land rights to build transmissions networks across properties
Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
So if we don’t want to introduce more emissions from rail freight we would have to electrify the whole rail network.
Sure, but diesel rail transport still produces vastly less pollution than road, not to mention the far cheaper cost per kg
No1@aussie.zone 11 months ago
@fruitleatherpostcard@lemm.ee
How about a rail freight network that works?
Nope. Truck unions bribed hard enough for that not to happen.
Hey, would be interested to read up on that. Any online sources handy?
fruitleatherpostcard@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Apologies but no not offhand. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a couple articles in the past. The Guardian I think.
Echinoderm@aussie.zone 11 months ago
I think it’s far more likely that any lobbying to stymie rail expansion is coming from toll road operators like Transurban.
Edgelord_Of_Tomorrow@lemmy.world 11 months ago
This is pretty bullshit mate. I spend so much time on the highway on my bike and truck drivers are usually the most law abiding, predictable drivers I come across.
Yeah there are some who are like you describe but truck drivers are massively overworked and exploited, leading to sleep deprivation and often drug use just to meet targets, so that’s inevitable.
I’d share the road with a semi over a Falcodore or yank tank any day.
unionagainstdhmo@aussie.zone 11 months ago
Maybe it’s different in other states but in South-East QLD, I’ve had some pretty bad experiences with truck drivers. Just the other week I was in traffic on the Pacific Motorway and an earthmoving truck (tipper with trailer) was effectively tailgating me, barely leaving enough stopping distance for the common sudden stops from 70km/hr. Another truck was flashing his lights and tailgating me at 100km/hr on the Logan Motorway.
But basically everyone on the road is a dickhead so mileage may vary. It’s just scarier when it’s a truck
RickMoreanus@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Tipper drivers are a whole different breed, and the hardcore roadrager driving you see from them is driven by economics cos they mostly get paid by the load not the hours.
unionagainstdhmo@aussie.zone 11 months ago
Though it’s no excuse for them to make that my problem. If their work conditions are poor they should work somewhere else or unionise
batmangrundies@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Semi drivers are generally good.
Dump truck drivers have Swiss cheese brains.