146 whichcar.com.au/wheels
WHEELSTORIESMICHAEL STAHL
Show us your rig
ONE OUT OF THE BOX
As the man at the helm of
NSW heavy vehicle compliance
enforcement, Brett Patterson is a
key figure in the safety of truckies
and all road users. His team of
inspectors have seen it all. “Down
near Marulan [heavy vehicle
inspection station], the inspectors
found a coffin lying by the side of
the road. Luckily it was empty ...
We can only guess that it literally
fell off the back of a truck.”BRETT Patterson, 46, grew up like most of
us, with a fascination for cars, trucks and
mechanical things. For the past 22 years
he’s been working at a critical junction of the
automotive world, on the front line of heavy-
vehicle compliance enforcement for NSW
Roads and Maritime Services. With well over
400,000 heavy vehicles operating on NSW
roads at any one time, it’s a huge matter of
safety for the community.
Since 2011, Patterson has been Senior
Manager of Compliance Operations,
supervising a team of more than 250
compliance inspectors around the state –
variously mobile operations, or at eight heavy
vehicle inspection stations dotted along the
state’s major road transport routes.
And they’ve a lot of work to do. NSW has
the highest number of registered heavy-goods
vehicles (192,000), and of those registered in
neighbouring states, about 65 percent travel
through NSW. In 2017, Patterson’s compliance
crew made more than half a million vehicle
inspections, across a range of compliance
programs. They also assist the Police in large
operations, including compliance checks on
modified cars.
Patterson knows his vehicles, having
worked as a mechanic for eight years. In
1996, he was offered the opportunity to
become an inspector with the (then) NSW
Roads and Traffic Authority. “I know this will
sound unusual, but the driver for me was the
opportunity to improve road safety.”
For the most part, he says, heavy-transport
operators are doing the right thing, so
Roads and Maritime Services streamline its
inspections as much as possible. Four of the
state’s eight heavy-vehicle inspection stations
are now largely automated; compliant trucks
literally need not even come to a standstill.
“At our larger weighbridges we have
electronic screening technology where the
vehicle leaves the highway, goes through a
number of checks like registration, mass,
Safe-T-Cam sightings, previous compliance
histories ... A vehicle that’s beamed through
the screening as compliant, will continue on
its journey – it might have slowed down to
40km/h, but off it goes. Or if it’s directed, we
will do a more thorough inspection.”
The things that keep Patterson awake at
night are trucks with defective brakes and
steering, worn-out suspensions, lapsed
registrations, overloading and drivers who
ignore national fatigue management laws
designed to ensure they get adequate rest.
Patterson loves that no two days in his jobare ever the same. “I’m directing operations,
leading staff, engaging with drivers and
operators, dealing with our customers ... I look
after all the inspectors state-wide, so I could
be in the office, or out in the field. Our work is
reported up through our management team,
right through to the [Roads, Maritime and
Freight] Minister.
“What we are delivering is important,
especially with the current road toll and heavy
vehicle crashes. We had a terrible January this
year, in a two-day period three heavy vehicle
fatal crashes occurred, resulting in the death
of five people.
“Occasionally we have to deal with
interactions that are angry and aggressive and
that’s disappointing. Both parties have a job
to do and we try to understand the challenges
that heavy vehicle drivers have, in getting from
A to B, the traffic on the roads, ensuring that
their trucks are maintained and loaded safely.
We’ve got a role in ensuring compliance, not
just for their vehicles, but for other vehicles,
operators and users on the roads.
“That’s sometimes a hard message
to deliver and demonstrate, but I think
we are getting through, working together
and changing the culture for a safe
transport industry.”The heavy-vehicle inspector who keeps NSW truckin’