As the recently installed editor of Trucksales.com.au I’ve come to the role with plenty of experience in writing and automotive journalism, but very little experience of trucks and the truck industry. I’ve primarily been reviewing motorcycles for magazines and websites (including Trucksales.com.au’s sister site, Bikesales.com.au) for over 16 years, but for me trucks represent new territory.
While you can learn an awful lot about any unfamiliar industry by reading widely and speaking with those in the know, there’s one crucial aspect of the trucking industry with which I know I have to come to grips: actually driving a truck. That’s where Driver Education Centre of Australia, or DECA, can help.
I’ll shortly be travelling a familiar path for anyone looking to break into the truck-driving game by undertaking a DECA training course to obtain my Heavy Rigid licence. This will allow me to legally drive any heavy rigid (as in non-articulated) vehicle with three or more axles and a gross vehicle mass (GVM) of over eight tonnes.
Just for an extra challenge, I’ll be having a crack at DECA’s Heavy Rigid Non-Synchromesh course, where I’ll (hopefully) learn to manage a non-synchromesh manual gearbox, instead of the easier synchromesh or automatic gearboxes now commonly available on modern trucks.
Also known as a Roadranger or ‘crash box’, the non-synchromesh gearbox requires the operator to carefully match the vehicle’s speed with its engine speed to smoothly select any given gear, with ‘double clutching’ – essentially working the clutch four times to shift from one gear to another, with a brief pause in between in neutral – needed to work your way up or down the ’box.
While roughly two out of three students opt for the easier synchromesh course these days, this places a ‘synchromesh only’ restriction on the driver’s Heavy Rigid licence. However, despite its challenges – and the industry trend towards synchromesh and auto gearboxes – the Roadranger lives on, being prized for its extra versatility and highly robust nature.
PROUD HISTORY
Before we look into the Heavy Rigid course itself, let’s take a closer look at DECA. I spoke with Steve Dumesny, Business Manager for DECA, to find out more about the organisation’s history.
“It was started off in Shepparton (Vic) on November 1, 1974, by Eric Montgomery,” says Dumesny.
“He was an ex traffic policeman. It wasn’t DECA then; it was actually called the Goulburn Valley Driver Training Complex.”
Montgomery was appalled by the soaring rate of road traffic accidents and resulting fatalities and, with some backing from the local community, council, and the Victorian government, he established his driver training centre. The enterprise filled a void and grew over the years, eventually becoming Driver Education Centre of Australia in 1985.
These days this fully accredited training organisation is a part of Victoria’s Wodonga TAFE, since the latter took the reins in early 2012. The integration has given DECA a stronger framework to help it grow and meet the changing needs of today’s road users.
“With the TAFE system comes the additional checks and balances and support, as well as stronger systems that are in place for both clients and staff,” says Dumesny.
While the organisation is now headquartered in the Victorian border town of Wodonga, it has training outlets in Wodonga’s Logic Centre, in Shepparton in central Victoria and in Altona North and Carrum Downs in Melbourne, along with Newborough in Victoria’s Gippsland region, Hobart in Tasmania, and Riverstone in north-west Sydney.
BROAD REPERTOIRE
DECA offers a wide range of courses for those looking to obtain a specific licence or just brush up on or improve existing skills, across the broader fields of cars, 4WDs, trucks, buses/coaches and motorcycles. Some courses are only available at specific locations, so be sure to check the DECA website (www.deca.com.au) to find the nearest centre with the specific course you’re interested in. Within trucks, DECA offers the full gamut of courses.
“There’s Light Rigid, Medium Rigid, Heavy Rigid and the different gearboxes associated with that – synchromesh or non-synchromesh,” says Dumesny.
“Then of course we offer Heavy Combination and Multi Combination,” he adds, referring to the licence courses required to drive heavy articulated trucks and B-doubles/road trains.
There are multiple courses being run each week, with several often running concurrently.
Any journey through DECA’s training begins with a simple phone call, where DECA’s friendly admin staff ask if the applicant is eligible for any government funding before giving you the price of the course. Concessions and cheaper rates for the unemployed are all available.
I wanted to do the Heavy Rigid Non-Synchro course in a group format. This sees a class of no more than four students learning together over five days, although that timeframe can contract or expand depending on the time it takes each student to get to grips with the truck.
The five-day group course price starts from $1237 (or $478 for concession card holders), but private one-on-one courses start from $772 (or $423 for concession card holders). The latter compresses the learning into a shorter space of time – typically a couple of days.
After taking identification and driver’s licence details the next step is for DECA to confirm your eligibility to undertake the course with VicRoads (or other equivalent state road authority). This involves a check to ensure your licence is valid, that you’ve held it for the required period of time, and that any prescription medication you might be taking isn’t going to affect your ability to drive.
Students can do a Light Rigid course (for vehicles with a GVM of over 4.5 tonnes but no more than eight tonnes, or which seat more than 12 people) or Medium Rigid course (any two-axle vehicle with a GVM of over eight tonnes) after holding an unrestricted car licence for 12 months, while Heavy Rigid candidates need to have held a car licence for 24 months.
Down the track, students can get their Heavy Combination licence after having a car licence for two years and either a Medium Rigid or Heavy Rigid licence for at least one year, in addition to completing a Heavy Combination training course.
Got your heart set on driving a road train? To obtain a Multi Combination licence you need to have held a Heavy Combination or Heavy Rigid licence for one year, in addition to completing a Multi Combination training course.
The basic rule is you can drive any class of vehicle covered by your licence grade and those below it – so on a Heavy Rigid licence you can drive a Heavy Rigid, Medium Rigid or Light Rigid vehicle (provided you adhere to your gearbox qualification) but not a Heavy Combination or Multi Combination vehicle.
STRONG DEMAND
DECA truck courses are always in strong demand so book in plenty of time to grab your preferred slot.
“We do have the odd cancellation but generally our courses are booked out fairly consistently,” says Dumesny.
“Having said that, if someone comes in and desperately needs to complete the training, we always try to meet our customers’ needs.”
DECA’s centre at Altona North also encourages its prospective students to swing by their training centre to get a taste of what they’re in for – especially if they’re looking to complete the harder non-synchromesh course.
“The reason we do that is because the client demographic there often produces students who think they’re going to get their Heavy Rigid Non-Synchro in a day,” says Dumesny.
“Now unless you’re pretty good you’re not going to get your HR Non-Synchro in a day. We’ve found that the clients really have no idea of what’s involved in driving a Heavy Rigid, especially with the non-synchro gearbox. So, to avoid having clients book into a course they’re not going to pass in the allotted timeframe, we suggest they come down and have a quick drive on the training range to get a feel for what’s involved. That way at least they’re better informed about the decision of what particular course they should book.”
There’s no obligation to take this sample drive but there’s no additional cost, either.
Dumesny says the more time you can allow, the better.
“If we get the full four people on a course it’s really better if they do it over the full five days,” he says.
“That gives plenty of drive time and it’s not rushed. The aim is to get them to licence standard; we’ve found the client has better outcomes if they stay on the five-day course.”
And if you’re wondering if people fail the licence assessment, they do – but that doesn’t mean you can’t have another stab at it later.
“Typically if a student isn’t ready for assessment we don’t present the student for assessment and they know it in themselves, too,” says Dumesny.
“As far as we can we can offer them some additional training, but there’s a limit to how much more we can give – sometimes the client has to pay a bit more to maybe purchase another day’s training to bring them up to speed.”
John Cruickshanks, Trainer Coordinator at DECA Shepparton, says the changing nature of the truck industry has altered the types of students that typically pass through DECA’s doors.
“In years gone by a person would get some experience in the vehicle they wanted to drive through the place they worked,” he says.
“That doesn’t happen so much these days – there’s no more opportunity for a person to actually get into a truck beforehand to get an insight into what it’s all about. Now they’re coming in to get the licence in order to get the work.”
CRUNCH TIME
So I’m now booked in for a looming Heavy Rigid Non-Synchro course at DECA’s Altona North facility. Five days after the course commences I’ll hopefully be double-clutching my way to a Heavy Rigid licence, and I should have picked up a bit more of an insight into just what truckies have to deal with on a daily basis.
For me it’s the start of a long journey and it’s one I’ll document every step of the way. Check back at Trucksales.com.au in coming weeks for a full rundown of my experience of the course itself.
For more information on DECA’s entire range of courses, which also include defensive truck driving, eco driving and rollover mitigation courses, visit www.deca.com.au or call 1300 365 400.