What do truck driving and being the prime minister have in common? At some point,  the job can become just a bit too much. It’s not surprising, considering they both have some key traits in common. Both are exposed to the slings and arrows of an outrageous public and – with limited resources on hand – both battle to meet the needs of all industries and services.

We all postulate on the causes of the driver shortage; money, conditions, work-life balance, lack of foresight as recruitment lagged behind the rise in truck capacity, denying children access to the workplace and frequently zealot-like, inequitable compliance.

As I’ve said before, trucks are the largest single-moving object allowed free passage in society under one person’s control, so there absolutely should be far-reaching, well-thought-through compliance to operate them.

Often, the level of the knee-jerk, overly complex compliance wrought upon us is a direct result of two things: first, the lack of respect we have for ourselves, and second, our fragmented industry representation.

Our self-induced non-compliant ways allow frustrated regulators to exercise their capacity, and fragmented representation enables politicians to promulgate social agendas against a defensive line kitted out in different jerseys.

Over time, the factors above engender occupational fatigue at the front line. And in an era of high competition for labour, it’s the revolving door under the exit sign that will cease a bearing first.

Then there are the external factors. First, our drivers are subject to hotspots of compliance insanity in other industries. Second, the public eye aspect means operators and drivers bear the brunt of any number of snake-oil peddlers looking to extol the virtues of a ‘must have’ product that will enhance the ‘safety’ of an industry they have often never participated in at the front line. ‘I’ve never driven, but my grandad drove trucks, so I know the industry well’ is bullshit.

I remember being at a conference some years back where a chap selling his wares was doing his best sales pitch. Sadly for him – and lucky for us – a well-known operator with an entertaining reality streak stopped him in full flight the moment he presented the small ‘unobtrusive’ screen required in the cab.

“We’ve got that many screens in the cab now, mate, we’re almost at the stage where we can’t see out the one that matters!” A ‘Mexican applause’ rolled around the room. I wondered then what it takes to get another screen okayed for the cockpits of Air New Zealand planes.

Back now to the issue of irrational compliance in other industries that might be antagonistic to our needs.

Here’s an incident relayed to me recently. A truck driver arriving portside was presented with an entry gate too narrow to make a single swing entry in the combination he drove. He also knew the same would be the case for many of his colleagues throughout the day. Incurring the wrath of a port worker for his apparent procrastination as he assessed the gate, he raised his concerns regarding the gate and bollards nearby. He highlighted the potential risk of clipping either/or or both during the day. The response was, “If you hit them, I’ll drug test you.”

The whole drug-testing-for-farting syndrome besieging our nation’s workplaces is one example of dignity-stripping compliance gone mad. Good people make mistakes. I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with it if uniformity of application existed, but we know it doesn’t. If an office person at the port company were drug-tested for dropping and smashing a glass on the smoko-room floor, all would be good. But we know that’s not the case, even though the risk of open-wound injury to others is significant.

And should we even start on things like loading zones? How can you be held responsible for a heavy combination on the road when you were incarcerated 6m away at the time of loading? Passengers who came in the truck? No problem. The driver? Insanity. Again, the last time I saw an Air New Zealand pilot do a pre-flight on his plane, he was in, under and around it, not on the edge of the flight apron with a pair of binoculars.

As the best-practice boffins preach, it’s not all about the money. The work environment counts for a hell of a lot. But trucking’s one of those businesses where your workers don’t work in the environment you create in the depot. That’s the last thing you want because that means the trucks are at home.

The internal industry issues? That’s for us to solve. But drivers need stronger support when out in the field dealing with the shit others dish up – support from their companies and industry representation. If they don’t get it, then like the good PM, they’ll continue to turn off the light as they leave, and finding their long-term replacements will only get harder.