Importer slams Victorian safety initiative

A new publication from Victoria's Transport Accident Commission (TAC) and WorkSafe has inflamed passions at the Mulgrave head office of Mercedes-Benz.

Both Victorian state government instrumentalities encourage commercial vehicle operators to place the safety interests of their drivers ahead of other considerations in the new publication, the "Guide to Safe Work Related Driving".

Endorsed by Victorian police and government bodies -- as well as the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce -- the guide recommends that fleet managers pay careful attention to the ANCAP rating of any new car being evaluated for purchase. ANCAP (Australasian New Car Assessment Program) is a non-government crash safety testing authority that is, nonetheless, supported by the TAC and VicRoads, among other state government departments from around the country and motoring associations.

The guide is available free and has been described by Victorian Minister for Roads and Ports Tim Pallas, as "an important addition to the community's armoury in hammering home the road and vehicle safety message."

According to Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Ken Lay, work related road accidents, like any road accidents, stem from speed, alcohol and fatigue. "303 people died on Victoria's roads last year and we suspect 100 of them were work related," he said.

However Senior Corporate Communications Manager for Mercedes-Benz, David McCarthy, is unimpressed. If Ken Lay reckons as many as 100 deaths a year on the road are workers engaged in their occupation, McCarthy argues, surely the compulsory fitment of stability control would reduce that number to a fraction of itself.

McCarthy regards the guide as a symptom of government sending mixed messages.

The left hand of government seems to be cajoling fleet operators to buy the best-equipped vehicles for safety, but the right hand has exempted commercial vehicles from mandatory stability control fitment in Victoria's upcoming legislation, due to take effect from January next year.

McCarthy describes the divergent safety philosophies within government as "hypocrisy". His company markets five-star ANCAP-compliant light commercial vehicles and, for a vehicle to achieve this rating it has to be fitted with stability control anyway. In effect, the government is telling fleet buyers that employee safety is important, but not so very important that commercial vehicles must be fitted with stability control.

It's not so much the guide itself that concerns McCarthy, who feels that the upcoming legislation either could have waited for the federal government's own ADR equivalent, due in November, or it might at least have mandated stability control for light commercial vehicles.

"They're exempting completely commercial vehicles from the ESC regulation," he told the Carsales Network.

Who benefits from this exemption? Light commercial vehicles built in Australia are already offered with stability control and the Holden Ute has just recorded a five-star crash safety rating. So who benefits from being able to supply commercial vehicles without stability control? Not the local manufacturers, not the consumers and, probably, not even the fleet buyers. Any cost saving on the purchase price may be offset by such things as the vehicle's resale deficit and insurance premiums.

McCarthy also explained that car companies have been effectively hijacked by the Victorian legislation. All cars, whether sold in the southern state or not, will have to have the mandatory stability control and a second compliance plate attesting to that.

"It's so transparent, I'm surprised the whole thing wasn't thought up by [Windscreens] O'Briens," says McCarthy of the ESC legislation, denouncing it as cynical.

"It's created another layer of regulation... It's not going to do anything. In fact, it might even narrow people's choice, but what it will do -- in a positive sense -- is it will make the Victorian government $5 million, because every single vehicle is effectively going to have to have this second compliance plate."

If a dealer in Queensland has a vehicle of a certain specification desired by a Victorian buyer, it can't be transferred to the Victorian dealer unless it complies with the relevant safety legislation. This forces the car companies to apply the Victorian legislation across their nationwide inventory. There's additional cost in the secondary compliance and it is a multi-million dollar impost that should boost Victorian government coffers.

"In that 10 months, you're probably looking at 800,000 vehicles -- so multiply that by $5.60 or whatever it is [and] government's going to make four or five million bucks," says McCarthy.

"It's not a problem for us -- zero problem -- but it's cynical... and you've got statements from Vic Police and others saying 'we've gotta have safer work driving'. How much work driving is done in commercial vehicles? Probably most of it. 'Oh, but we've exempted them'.

"It's extremely disappointing."

The Guide to Safe Work Related Driving is available free through the following websites:

www.workcover.vic.gov.au;
www.tac.vic.gov.au;
www.vacc.com.au;

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