 So good morning we're here obviously at this obviously way station with deputy commissioner Ross Barnett and it's great to have Peter Gasky here in relation from the Australian sorry the Queensland Trucking Association as the CEO and I'd just like to say that with the finalization of Australia sorry with the finalization of Operation Ostranz it is great to see the continuation of the trucking industry and the Queensland Police Service working in partnership to keep our roads even safer for the mums and dads and all Queenslanders right across this great state and we will continue to ensure that we keep our roads safe and make sure that we have a strong plan and a bright future in ensuring that our road users are kept safe because at the end of the day it's working in partnership that we can get results this operation obviously has been a a month long operation and once again whilst we have seen a few people do the wrong thing on the whole it has been very successful and it just goes to show the great partnership between the the Queensland trucking fraternity and the and the Queensland Police but most importantly these operations will keep all Queenslanders safe it'll ensure that mums and dads and families have the peace of mind knowing that the industry is working in with the police service and the Department of Transport to ensure all road users are kept safe it seems that the um the biggest increase in offences are in fatigue offences is that a worrying thing look uh fatigue is part of our fatal five and we will ensure that that people obviously have the full force of the law come their way if they want to put other people's lives at risk but as with fatigue or seat belts or speeding these are all conscious choices and but people out there on the roads where you're driving trucks or driving any home vehicle is you need to know that if you do the wrong thing police will be there they will catch you and you will go before the courts the Transport Workers Union says that there seems to be a lot of pressure from above from employers to you know get the job done quicker that sort of thing in tough economic times is there anything that the government can do to keep those employers in check look we have seen magnificent results from the obviously the the Queensland Trucking Association working hand in hand with the government to ensure the safety of all road users and I just want to compliment the trucking industry for uh they're the way that they have been able to work in with the Department of Transport and the Queensland Police to ensure the safety of mums and dads on our highways sorry Ross thank you look Operation Ostranz uh has run nationally for the last 12 months it's an annual event this year in Queensland we intercepted over 12,500 trucks um of those drivers who we intercepted there were 230-odd speeding offences 127 offences are not wearing a seat belt there were uh 790-odd offences for fatigue related issues and that is a concern given that these drivers are driving very heavy and very large vehicles so it's important that they're alert and concentrating on what they're doing so fatigue issues certainly is a concern on top of that we did uh 11,000 random red tests and over a thousand uh random drug tests the detection rates I've got to say were fairly low there were 20 uh drivers connected with drugs in their system and 11 uh positive uh drink driving uh offences of course that's a concern but we've got to keep in mind the overall number of trucks that we did intercept in uh in terms of the volume of those offences what would you say to those drivers who are um risking their lives I suppose and and the lives of others through these fatigue related offences look most of these people I'm sure have families and I would just remind them that uh we have a shared responsibility we're on the road and uh we all have a responsibility to drive vehicles that are road worthy and make sure that we are in personal tip top shape in terms of not driving with your drugs alcohol and particularly fatigue and if you're going to be fatigued in charge of a very large vehicle the possibility is you're going to do a lot of damage to some other innocent family is there anything in particular that you're quite impressed with any any um improvements well I think overall you know for 12 and a half thousand the trucks intercepted the drivers tested the enforcement rates are relatively low and we're very pleased and I think that shows that the vast majority of drivers and owners are very professional and take their responsibilities very seriously but we are concerned about that small element we had one driver who was intercepted who'd been driving for 12 hours straight he had a very young child in the truck they're the sorts of things that concern us there aren't many of them but when those things happen the potential for really serious consequences are obvious do you know how we compare to other states look I don't have the interstate comparative data with me at the moment um okay and where else do we see increases so there's a slight increases in speeding offences is that a worry I mean when you're behind a big heavy haul truck that can't be good absolutely the speeding is one of the favorite five we're concerned with cars motorbikes anybody who speeds but obviously as I said before the size and weight of these trucks makes uh any any speeding events or any braking of the road rules that much more serious because of the consequences that can come from it the drug driving what's behind that is it is it trying to stay away for a while well traditionally uh the industry has had a problem with the use of um emphatomine type stimulants to keep drivers awake who are not prepared to observe the law and take the required breaks and that's been a problem that's been ongoing for some time but as I say the relatively low detection rates would suggest that that's not a widespread problem inside the industry any other outstanding cases that you mentioned the bloke that drove for 12 hours straight anything else look there with nearly 800 fatigue related offenses there are other stories like that so that's always a concern for us because some of these drivers clearly are under pressure to drive beyond the legal limits whether that's imposed on anybody else or something they consciously choose to do themselves only they know but the consequences of that for the rest of the travel community can be significant