Narva shines a light on road safety

Road safety campaigner Rod Hannifey is promoting the benefits of the road transport industry with the help of lighting expert Narva

Lighting specialist Narva is lighting the way for industry stalwart and committed road safety campaigner Rod Hannifey, who actively promotes the benefits of the road transport industry while also hauling freight with his Kenworth B-double.

Narva has decked out both Rod's Kenworth K200 prime mover and his five-year-old tautliner B-double trailers. The latter turn his rig into a mobile billboard, with custom-printed curtains highlighting the crucial role played by road freight in this country. The rear of the set lists Rod's 'Truckies' Top 10 Tips', with a different road safety tip displayed each month.

Rod launched his 'Truck Right' campaign five years ago after he realised he could carry out his work as a professional truck driver while improving the industry's image.

"We had all these magnificent trucks on our roads promoting all manner of goods, from vineyards to dog food, but not one truck was promoting the good work of the transport industry," he says.

"The industry seems to get a lot of bad press, so I wanted to put something out there in front of the public that was positive."

When he's not hauling freight from Dubbo to Melbourne, Brisbane and beyond, the father of seven is regularly attending industry events or even sharing his cab with industry stakeholders, giving them a first-hand taste of the issues faced by truck drivers daily.

"I try and take the truck and attend one public event per month," he says.

"I’ve also had the CEOs of NRMA and VicRoads ride with me, along with politicians and journalists, so that they can get a better understanding of some of the challenges that truck drivers face."

Rod also promotes the road freight industry and road safety through his own website, www.truckright.com.au.

He recently racked up one million kilometres in the Truck Right rig, and says his Narva lighting has proven a rugged, dependable and effective lighting solution.

"The trailers had another brand of lights when we got them but since then we’ve replaced all of these with Narva and added some extras and additional lights where needed," he says.

"We’ve added reversing lights, we’ve added work lights for trailer hook-ups, we’ve changed the side indicator lights to be better seen – I’ve even got some at the rear of the trailer to illuminate the ‘Truck Right’ livery."

The K200 also has a comprehensive array of Narva products, including headlights, step lights and Daytime Running Lights, while the bull-bar features HID driving lights and LED marker lamps.

"Over five years we’ve only had a couple of minor failures: a couple of the marker lamps we have on the bull bar have dropped an LED, but these are right on the bottom of the bar and they get a flogging from kangaroos," Rod says.

"The Kenworth operates an EBSS (Electronic Brake Safety Systems) package, which means the brake lights are also operated by the engine brakes, so they’re on a lot of the time compared to a normal truck – we haven’t even had a single diode fail."

Now, with 1,000,000 kilometres under his wheels, Rod says his thoughts are turning to a replacement rig, which he's planning to launch in 2016.

"There’s been strong interest from sponsors to get involved with the next vehicle – it’s very encouraging," Rod said.

"As a full-time driver I do 200,000 kilometres a year, I have seven children and then I have to balance this with the Truck Right work; it can really be challenging but the cause is very worthwhile."

Narva shines a light on road safety

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