TRUCKIES FACE DRUG TESTS

LONG-distance truck drivers face random drug tests and haulage
companies will be scrutinised on their management of tired drivers
under options being considered by the State Government.

Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan favours tests
for truck drivers which detect drugs that reduce driving ability.

Ms MacTiernan said she planned to double the level of enforcement of
driver fatigue plans for truck drivers, pumping $250,000 into
WorkSafe to help ensure guidelines were being met by trucking
companies.

She did not specify which drugs posed the biggest danger but said the
clampdown on fatigue management was part of the Government's more
practical approach to road safety.

"One of the things that we see as part of the road safety strategy is
to actually have some decent enforcement of driver fatigue in the
heavy haulage industry," she said. "We are going to be doubling the
heavy haulage enforcement unit."We are going to be putting $250,000 a
year into WorkSafe to get proper driver-fatigue management plans. If
they (companies) don't have that and they haven't got ways of
enforcing it then we will be down on them like a ton of bricks."

The move is aimed at reducing the number of long-distance truck
drivers being pressured to take both legal and illegal drugs to stay
awake so they can meet gruelling delivery schedules.

A spokesman for the Transport Workers Union yesterday offered
qualified support for drug testing of long-distance truckies.

He said the TWU wanted to see the industry cleaned up so companies
were sticking to fatigue management programs and not pushing drivers
to extremes.

"We hear anecdotally of ratbag, cowboy companies which actually
provide their drivers with drugs and we should be cracking down on
them," he said.

"Only a very small minority of our members would use drugs. We should
be looking at why any drivers are put in a position where they feel
like they have to."

Ms MacTiernan said she would consider the introduction of electronic
monitoring equipment - such as that used in New South Wales - which
recorded the distances travelled by truck drivers.

A spokesman for the National Road Transport Commission in Melbourne
said it was looking at a code of practice for truck drivers but did
not have an official position on random drug testing.RAC attacks road
safety plansTHE RAC wants an urgent review of road safety strategy.

RAC traffic and roads manager Dick Stott said WA was nowhere near
meeting its aims to cut the road toll.

"Our present strategy sets a goal of six deaths per 100,000 by
December 2005," he said. "It's now about 11.5 deaths per 100,000."

The RAC wants a review to build in the new Government's platforms and
changes to funding.

"We need a reduction (in accidents) of at least 11 per cent a year,"
Mr Stott said."

Last year, the number of deaths on WA roads dropped 4 per cent.

Mr Stott said the Federal road safety strategy set a goal of 5 per
cent annual reductions between 2000 and 2010.

Most European countries aimed for reductions of between 2 per cent
and 5 per cent a year.

WA's present road safety strategy was prepared by the Monash
University Accident Research Centre. Its recommendations have proved
effective in reducing the toll in other States.

Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan said she
hoped to review the strategy in the next six months.

The Government had signalled a shift towards youth driver training
programs and a more practical approach to road safety. It had
allocated more money for accident blackspots.Mr Stott said
professionals should be brought in.

A motorcyclist was killed yesterday in a collision with a station
wagon at Landsdale in Perth's north.

The crash, about 11am at the intersection of Alexander Drive and
Landsdale Road, brought the State's road toll this year to 25.

Police are seeking witnesses to a collision on Sunday afternoon near
the intersection of Hepburn Avenue and Waraker Road, Hillarys. A
motorcyclist is critical after the crash with a van. Anyone with
information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.