A couple of weeks before my course I visited DECA’s Altona North training centre for a ‘taster’ of what was to come. There DECA trainer Sergio took me around the training range in the truck I would be using on my course, before letting me have a quick go behind the wheel.
DECA encourages this to help ensure that clients book into the appropriate course and allow the appropriate timeframe. There’s no point in booking into a group non-synchro course and thinking you’re going to get the hang of it in a day – unless you’ve got previous experience, it ain’t gonna happen. The preview also helps alleviate any pre-course nerves because it gives you a good idea of what you’re in for.
It’s by no means compulsory but I thoroughly recommend it, and it doesn’t cost you anything extra.
BACK TO SCHOOL
Two weeks later it was D-day. Upon arrival at DECA I was shown to my classroom where I met my trainer for the week, Marcus Kelly, and my two fellow students, Chris and Steve. Chris was looking for a change from his regular job as a security guard while Steve was looking to improve his employment prospects in his new home of Karratha, WA, to which he’d be heading shortly.
DECA’s group Heavy Rigid licence courses have up to four students per class and they’re priced from $1237 (or $478 for concession card holders). These courses generally last for five days but that length may shrink or extend to accommodate students’ needs. Shorter 12-hour one-on-one courses are also available – they start from $772 (or $423 for concession card holders).
Those fees cover the tuition itself, the 32-question knowledge test and the final assessment. Successfully completing the assessment gets you a ‘certificate of competency’ – present this at your state road authority, pay the small admin fee and a Heavy Vehicle licence is yours. It also covers a pack of student essentials: a fluoro safety vest, work gloves, notepad and pen, coffee mug, and a 203-page heavy vehicle learning resource.
Marcus is fairly new to DECA’s ranks but with 34 years of road transport industry experience he knows his stuff. After the mandatory safety induction he took us through the various aspects of the assessment we’d have to pass: an eyesight test, the knowledge test, the on-road assessment and the off-road assessment, the latter comprising a pre-drive vehicle check, a cabin drill, a straight reverse and an offset reverse.
It’s all competency-based training: you won’t sit the driving tests unless the trainer thinks you’re competent, in which case you’ll have a good chance of passing. “We train students to drive a truck, not pass a test,” says Marcus, underlining one of DECA’s important underlying philosophies.
Other theory topics covered include basic road law, the Chain of Responsibility, and DECA’s system of vehicle control – a series of points to check on the approach to any intersection or roundabout. The importance of Crash Avoidance Space (CAS) and how to protect it are also covered.
MEET THE RIG
After breaking for lunch, Marcus takes us outside to familiarise ourselves with our truck: an International S-Line 3600. With concrete blocks in the back it’s travelling at around 18 tonnes – VicRoads requires that any truck you tackle the assessment in should be rolling at 75 per cent of its maximum permitted load.
The pre-departure check takes us through everything to ensure the vehicle is safe, registered, roadworthy and within dimensions. Opening the bonnet allows us to check the engine’s belts and fluids, while a walkaround gives us the chance to inspect the tyres, air tanks, fuel tanks, tyres, wheels, and lights. The cabin drill takes us through a further series of checks before we shift our attention from the truck to a nearby dummy trailer set-up. Here we learn about various ways of securing a load using ropes and chains.
The theory continues the next day, with Marcus taking us through axle weights and truck weights and overmass/overweight penalties, among other topics. We’re also given an eyesight test and we sit the knowledge test – a 32-question, multiple-choice test that, in Victoria, is based on the information contained within The Victorian Bus & Truck Drivers’ Handbook (check with your state road authority for your local equivalent).
The test is not especially difficult but you won’t fluke it if you don’t read the book. You have to get 26 questions correct out of the 32 but if you don’t make the cut you can re-sit it the next day (with different questions, mind you!).
BEHIND THE WHEEL
With the classroom work dispensed with it was finally time to get behind the wheel. I’ve ridden plenty of motorcycles that can land you in court in first gear, so cranking through five gears to reach just 30km/h was something new. It’s all about the torque, of course, and the resulting payload capacity.
And no matter how many times you listen to a description of ‘double clutching’, you can’t begin you appreciate the technique until you have a go. It’s a good thing those Roadranger transmissions are tough units – they certainly cop some teeth-grinding abuse at the hands of trainee truckies!
Marcus then took us down to what DECA Altona North refers to as ‘the nursery’. A new and quiet business estate about 5km away, it’s a safe area in which to build our skills before mixing it in Melbourne traffic.
The system of vehicle control is hammered home: it’s all about monitoring your speed, position and the surrounding environment while managing your gears on the approach to any turn or intersection.
As crunching gears ring out through the industrial estate it slowly dawns on us that we’re learning – the missed shifts slowly become fewer in number as the braking and acceleration progressively become smoother.
From halfway through day two it’s all about the driving. The three of us cycle through having a go, driving for around 30 or so minutes before handing over to the next student while Marcus offers his guidance from the passenger seat. The concentration involved in learning a new skill takes it out of you – after half an hour I’m pretty happy to hop in the back of the cab and observe for a while.
On day three I accept Marcus’s invitation to drive the truck back from the nursery to DECA – a trip across Melbourne’s industrial heartland that we survive without incident. It’s a turning point: from then on the three of us hone our skills on busy suburban roads, negotiating multi-lane roundabouts, motorways and eventually tight inner-city streets.
Towards the end of week we’re all confident enough about heading out in the traffic and we’re managing the Roadranger transmission well enough. Save for the occasional faux pas – my stilted stab at getting through that major intersection, for example – we’re all doing pretty well. Then, on Friday, it’s time for the assessment.
JUDGEMENT DAY
My first assessment goes well for all of five minutes until, when crossing several lanes of motorway to take an exit, I fail to spot a small hatchback that has moved into my blind spot. The startled driver takes evasive action and that was that – a big, fat ‘fail’. It was disappointing but lessons were learned – with driving a truck comes major responsibility, and other motorists simply have no appreciation of a heavy vehicle’s size and handling.
Fortunately I was able to re-sit the assessment later that afternoon and this time all went well. After getting the big International home after the one-hour test, I complete the straight and offset reversing exercises back at DECA’s training range and the VicRoads ‘certificate of competency’ is mine.
This course was a real eye-opener. The intricacies of the non-synchromesh gearbox, the skill required in positioning a heavy vehicle on the road and just the sheer ignorance of some members of the driving public – completing this training has given me a far more rounded view of road usage. Everyone should do an HR course, if only to gain an insight into the different handling and performance characteristics of driving a truck.
I can’t thank DECA enough for its support. It’s got nearly 40 years of experience behind it and it shows. The Altona North campus is clean and modern and the instructors represent a wealth of knowledge. They’ve ‘been there, done that’, so they can give you the inside line on how the industry works in addition to teaching you the skills required to drive a truck safely.
The trucks at Altona North are on the older side – our International was a 1997 model – but they’re the oldest trucks in the entire DECA fleet and DECA says it’s looking at updating them soon. Despite their age, they’re still entirely serviceable and indeed typical of what many newly qualified truckies will drive in the early stages of their career.
Where to now? I’ll be going about my duties here at Trucksales.com.au with a little bit more of an insight into the trucking world. I hope to expand my driving experience in line with my knowledge of the industry in general and then eventually move up to a Heavy Combination licence – but that’s getting a little ahead of myself…
If you’re considering diving into the Australian trucking industry and you need a Heavy Rigid licence, give DECA a call on 1300 365 400 or visit www.deca.com.au. You’ll certainly be in capable hands.