Exploring Language Barriers for heavy vehicle road safety resource engagement

The National Road Safety Partnership Program (NRSPP) is conducting a study to identify preferred ways to communicate with Australia’s professional truck drivers, specifically, what are the most common languages, other than English, spoken by these drivers and identify 13 safety topics of interest.

The heavy vehicle industry is what keeps Australia running and with a driver shortage, many new Australians are joining the industry. We are keen to know more about them and to engage in a conversation with them. If you, or know someone you know is a professional heavy vehicle driver from a Non-English Speaking Background (NESB), please take the time to complete this 10 minute survey. 

You may have driven prior to coming to Australia and find the regulations, safety messaging and cultural norms in the heavy vehicle sector quite different. 

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator has been translating its regulatory-related content into multiple languages. The NRSPP will be doing the same with its heavy vehicle toolbox talk (HVTBT) packages; safety messaging designed and translated for NESB professional drivers will be far more powerful and inclusive. 

To help select three languages and which 13 HVTBT topics will be translated, the NRSPP is launching a survey of the Australian NESB professional truck drivers to inform our decision. The survey will help identify which NESB languages are used in Australian states and territories within the heavy vehicle sectors.

The survey and social media have been translated into the following languages:

•       Arabic
•       Dari
•       Hazaragi
•       Hindi
•       Persian
•       Punjabi
•       Simplified Chinese
•       Spanish
•       Urdu
•   Vietnamese

Nominate other languages

•       English

To complete the survey and for a chance to win one of four $100 gift vouchers!

To be eligible you should:

1.       be aged 18 years or older;
2.       Hold a valid driver’s licence;
3.       Currently live in Australia;
4.       Drive heavy vehicles and;
5.       Have a primary language other than English.

 The Survey is available here: https://monash.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_51KvHPhnB9YGPQ2

The survey will close 17 April.

The Language Translation Heavy Vehicle Toolbox Talks project is funded by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative, supported by the Federal Government