By Rob McKay | August 9, 2010NatRoad is making inroads towards the 2000 member mark, with a rise of about 30 percent in two years.
NatRoad President Rob McIntosh told the group’s annual general meeting last week that 128 new members had joined this year.
That is on top of last year’s figure of 192 new members, which had brought the total past the 1000.
The added membership comes as the industry deals with the tensions of a two-speed economic recovery.
“I don’t believe that the world’s finances are going to collapse by any means and certainly there are opportunities out there, however, I do believe that the trucking industry tends to be a very good barometer for how the economy is really going and based on what I see in my travels there appears to be far fewer trucks on the road today than say three years ago,” McIntosh says.
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator headed a list of current and future issues that will exercise NatRoad minds in the next year.
“Significant work has already been completed on what the regulator should look like but a lot more is required, particularly on issues such as what it should do,” McIntosh says.
“With a delivery date of 2013, a lot will need to be accomplished in a very short two years.”
NatRoad is spending time and money on simplifying and improving the practicality of the basicfFatigue management program and road-testing academic research into fatigue under Australian conditions.
With the Fair Work Ombudsman busy, NatRoad will look to shield the Road Transport (Long Distance Operations) Award from significant variations.
Heavy Vehicle access charges and a push to alter Road Rule 200 that stops heavy vehicles parking for more than an hour in commercial and industrial areas were other issues on the action agenda.