A GARBAGE truck has veered across a major road and smashed into a house in Sydney’s south-west, causing significant structural damage, police say.

The garbage truck was headed south on the Camden Bypass about 10.30am (AEDT) today when the incident occurred.

Police said the male Driver veered across four lanes of traffic onto the incorrect side of the road.

The truck then mounted the kerb and crashed into the rear of the house on Shoemark Place, causing significant structural damage.

Two people home at the time were not injured.

The Truck driver was treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Police said it was not yet clear what may have caused the incident.

The company that operated the Truck, SITA Environmental Solutions, said it would conduct an internal investigation into the incident.

Company spokesman Mike Ritchie promised to provide temporary accommodation for the residents of the damaged house.

“This sort of accident is of course a great shock to those affected and the family’s needs will be taken care of,” Mr Ritchie said.

The company would cooperate with the police investigation, he said.

As our operators’ panel reveals, most people working in the industry think the conditions truck drivers have to endure are little short of shocking. Adam Purshall from TM Logistics says: “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find somewhere safe to park. Motorway service areas are too busy unless you get there early enough - and drivers do end up parked in lay-bys out of desperation.” This view is reflected in our survey - 70% felt the provision of parking facilities was inadequate.

As  well as a lack of facilities, our survey clearly shows that operators feel that what we have at present is, at best, average (49%) - with almost a quarter describing them as poor. Almost half (47%) of respondents say a price between £6 and £14 pounds would be acceptable, although it is interesting to see that 19% would be prepared to pay £20 or more.

Charges average £15 for an overnight stay and in our survey almost 75% felt that they were not getting value for money. Paul Arthurton on our operators’ panel believes charging is fundamentally wrong as drivers are fulfilling a legal requirement to take adequate rest. Again, a resounding thumbs down from our survey - 70% felt that parking areas were not secure enough. Clearly it is impossible to secure lay-bys, but operators have a right to expect a certain level of security at motorway service areas.

Some 70% of operators feel there are not enough parking facilities and the vast majority (81%) think the ones  we have are average at best 74% feel they aren’t getting value for money 92% think they should be provided by the public sector and 83% feel that planners should do more to accommodate Trucks.

Opinion is split between councils and government but it’s clear from this survey that operators believe facilities should be provided by the public sector, not private business. To operators they are like any other bit of infrastructure - our operators’ panel makes comparisons with the Continent where governments routinely provide good parking facilities.

The basic facilities that operators believe are necessary for their drivers are parking and toilets, closely followed by food and showers. Charles Burke from TRS Engineering says: “I think they need to be government-owned sites. It would be nice if they had fuel but they don’t need to have food facilities.”

In this survey 5% operators reported attacks on their drivers. Our panel of operators has given a damning verdict on planners, with 83% of respondents saying that they do not take truck drivers’ needs into account when designing new industrial or distribution areas. Surprisingly, given the perception that attacks on drivers are rife, only 7% of operators in our survey advise their drivers to park securely. However, this figure is skewed by the number of respondents who didn’t express an opinion.

A pickup truck driver who ran a stop sign led police on a 48-mile, high-speed desert chase before he was killed during a rolling Interstate 10 shootout near Chiriaco (Shih-RAY’-koh) Summit.

A Cathedral City police officer tried to stop the pickup Thursday, but the driver sped away, reaching speeds up to 120 mph as the California Highway Patrol joined the desert chase 130 miles east of Los Angeles.

CHP Officer Tami Low says 32-year-old Johnnie Robert Lopez “opened the rear-window slider and starting shooting out the back of the truck.”

Three officers involved in the pursuit fired back and the wounded Joshua Tree man lost control of the pickup.

He was found dead in the truck.

There’s still time to hit the road for a new career at the new location for C.D.L. Training Services and Consulting, Inc.

Ernie Walters, admission representative for the commercial truck driving school, said the next round of classes starts Nov. 5 at 1917 Lake Land Boulevard. C.D.L. Training Services moved earlier this year from the Workforce Development Center Building near Cross County Mall. Classes started in August at the new location on Lake Land.

“No experience in trucking is needed. We take you through the whole deal in a few weeks,” said Walters.

The training facility can assist students with arrangements for financial aid and job placement. About 50 trucking companies work with C.D.L. Training to provide jobs after students complete their training. A certificate is awarded upon successful completion of the classes.

“The demand is huge for Trucking. And companies are offering different deals. The salaries for new truckers can average 47,000 per year and up,” Walters said. “We have students going right into jobs when they graduate.”

Night classes are offered if trainees need to continue their sources of income before completing the schooling, which covers 160 total hours, ranging from driving safety, inspections and basics on on-road and yard delivery skills.

The program is in demand as well, Walters said, with trainees driving across a few counties to attend classes. Daytime and nighttime classes are offered to accommodate different schedules, he added. The nighttime courses cover eight weeks, about twice the duration of daytime sessions. Experienced truckers provide instruction in the classroom and on-the-road or yard sessions with three truck rigs used by the school.

“We have all ages of students. Most of them are looking for a career change. Or they are fulfilling a dream. There can be a lot of freedom in driving a truck compared to other careers,” he said.

Thomson Delmar Learning, a provider of learning products and services for the health care, technology and trades and career education markets and part of The Thomson Corp., today announced that after a collaborative effort between Thomson Delmar Learning and the Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI), the PTDI Web site www.ptdi.org has been successfully updated and enhanced.Since its beginning, PTDI, which is affiliated with the Truckload Carriers Assocation, has promoted minimum training standards for those considering entering the truck driving industry and schools that value quality training. PTDI officials said the new and improved Web site proves that this remains true even to this day.

They said that in addition to its fresh new look, the Web site offers much more information, such as a summary of curriculum guidelines, as well as user-friendly navigation. These changes enable the site’s visitors to find the answers they need quickly and with the greatest of ease.

Thomson Delmar Learning is committed to giving truck drivers and school personnel the information they need to stay current with the latest safety and compliance regulations, the company said in a news release.

Even if you can not afford to enroll in a private truck driver school it doesn’t mean that you have to give up on your dream of becoming a truck driver. Not all private schools cost the same to attend as some can be much cheaper than others but if you have been looking for a long time and still can not find one that is within your budget you should know there are other alternatives out there which doesn’t cost nearly as much and some training can even be done for free.

The other alternatives you have besides the private truck driver schools are the public schools and the training you can get directly from a truck driver company. Like any other schools or training, enrolling in their programs can be both positive and negative but if finances are the issue then these are the options you have and bottom line is that you will accomplish the same as you would in a private truck driver school, namely getting your CDL and becoming a truck driver.

The public truck driver school is normally owned, operated and funded by local governments and this is part of the reason these are somewhat cheaper than private truck driver schools. At a publicly funded school there are also many other programs available besides truck driver training something which means that no program is being given special attention. Public truck driver schools also tend to be less flexible than the private school and missing some classes may cause you to have to start all over.

Public truck driver schools generally tend to last longer than the private programs do and this can actually be quite positive if the instructors are thorough in their teaching. On the other hand, if you are out of work and would like to get working and earning a salary as soon as possible this may not be the right type of school or program for you. If this is the case then there is just one answer left for you and that is to go directly to the truck driver companies and get your training thru them.

Motor carrier training is what this type of truck driver training is called and can of course be good for someone desperately in need of a job. Your training may not be as thorough here as at public and private schools since the purpose of these programs are to get as many drivers for that company as soon as possible something which naturally ends with cutting corners on training.. Companies normally offer the training for free if you commit to working for the company for at least a year.

Contrary to what many believe the truck driving business do not only offer jobs to people wanting to drive heavy tractor-trailers across the country. Behind all the big rigs you see along Americas highways and interstates there is an elaborate network of workers who help this industry run like clock work. Truck drivers and driver/sales workers who ensure the safe delivery of cargo to its destination on time only occupy 45% of the trucking industry. Many other positions are available within the field of trucking.

Laborers such as stock, freight and material movers are all people who help load and unload cargo and move it around warehouses and terminals and in order to do so they may use things such as conveyor belts, fork lifts, hand trucks or pallet jacks. Most of these workers are often unskilled.

Positions relating to installation, maintenance and repair are often occupied by workers coming from similar jobs within other industries than the trucking industry and have often received some form of specialized training. Service technicians and mechanics are people who perform preventive safety checks and also do some routine service and repairs. These sometimes advance to part managers who monitor the inventory and therefore require computer skills, mechanical knowledge and purchasing procedures.

Office workers and people in administration are who perform the recordkeeping for the warehouses and transportation and while these people keep records of everything dispatchers are the ones who coordinate all movement of cargo and trucks as well as assign pick up and deliveries to available truck drivers. They give truckers their schedules and routes and have to juggle drivers in order to best satisfy their clients. Shipping and receiving clerks has to keep record of any and all cargo arriving and leaving a terminal.

People who meet with potential customers are called sales related workers. As they meet with customers they discuss their individual needs and suggest the right services for those clients. Requirements for these positions are that you must be able to analyze sales statistics, prepare reports as well as being able to handle some administrative duties. Traveling is also a part of these positions.

Last but not least there is the managerial staff whose responsibilities are to provide general direction to the firm. They hire staff, supervise and ensure safety. They are also in charge of training workers for the various positions within the industry. These are the people who solve problems such as foreseeing the demand for transportation. Ordering parts and equipment and parts are parts of their duties along with scheduling transportation of goods. These workers are also the ones who map out the most efficient traffic routes.

Over the past ten years, our society has continued shifting towards the digital age. E-books and online newspapers are proof that our society is slowly moving away from the age of pencil and paper. The truck driving industry is no exception to this digital evolution. Modern products such as GPS have greatly enhanced the industry for truck drivers. Truck driver recruiting is the area in which the impact of the Internet is most evident. While recruitment used to be done through newspaper classifieds and door-to-door sales pitches, recruiters are now turning to the Internet to find new drivers. Truck driver recruiters are using three main online methods in an attempt to recruit new drivers: banner advertising, application databases, and company web sites.

Banner advertising refers to the large banners found at the top, bottom, and side of most web sites. These banners are designed by a company wishing to advertise, and then placed on relevant web sites with high traffic. The responsibility of the truck driver recruiter is to use banner advertising as effectively as possible within the limits of the budget. This requires the recruiter to design or have a banner created, research and identify relevant sites with high traffic, and then negotiate with the owners of the web sites the price of running the banner ad campaign.

The second method that a recruiter can use to find potential truck drivers online is creating a database of applications. By using this method, recruiters can build an extensive file of drivers that are available for hire. This allows the company to instantly hire new drivers when positions become available. The recruiter is responsible for setting up the database. They recruiter should be the person to create the application itself, which requires determining what questions are most important to ask a potential driver. The recruiter is also responsible for managing and organizing the applications once they are received.

A database of applications can work well in conjunction with a company web site. Most recruiters create a company web site to provide potential drivers with details and information about the company. The recruiter should create a site that is simple and easy to use, but provides enough information to address all the questions a potential driver might have. Topics such as salary, working hours, company procedures, and equipment information are all examples of important information that should be included on the web site. By combining a banner ad campaign, an application database, and a company web site, a recruiter can use the Internet to effectively find potential truck drivers.