King of the road

The 27-year-old beat 15 finalists to the title in a tough test that pushed their driving skill and trucking knowledge to the limit on Sydney streets and the Darling Harbour wharf precinct.

The Young Australian Truck Driver competition is an initiative of Scania Australia and based on biennial competitions that the company sponsors in 37 countries.

Whyte was one of 1500 young drivers who entered the competition in the latter part of 2006. Wanting to measure his level of skill against other young drivers from all parts of the country, he was elated to be judged the best.

“I wanted to see where I stood,” he says. “It was to get a feel of where I was with my skill level. This is unbelievable, it's life-changing.”

Whyte says the Sydney tests were more challenging than the tests in Melbourne when he was one of three state finalists to win through to the national run-off.

“I was a nervous wreck,” he says. “It was even worse because I was the last one to go through the test.”

It wasn't that the tests themselves were difficult, it was the thought of being the last driver to do them, by which time there were 15 other finalists watching from the sidelines, adding pressure to a tense situation.

If he was nervous it didn't show when it mattered the most, and he put in an almost perfect run to score the overall win.

“I was rapt with how I went,” he says. “It just clicked and everything I did worked. I had a great day.”

Whyte says the most difficult part of the test was the road drive section when he drove a Scania fitted with a curtain sider trailer through the unfamiliar streets of Sydney.

“The roads are so narrow and they wind all over the place,” he says. “It's not like Melbourne where the roads are wider and a lot straighter. I'm glad I don't have to do that every day.”

Whyte was bitten by the truck-driving bug when he was a five-year-old watching his father drive trucks.

“All I wanted was to be like my father,” he says. “He's a truck driver and all I ever wanted to be was a truck driver like him.”

He began driving as a teenager and had to battle for acceptance in an industry that prefers age and experience to youth.

“I did the agency work that no one else wants to do and worked from there,” he says.

Whyte now works for Melbourne-based freight operator Webster's Transport, driving a Kenworth B-Double hauling white cement between Melbourne and Adelaide.

“It's a great job,” he says. “We drive over empty and bring the cement back to Melbourne. There is no pressure to make impossible deadlines.”

While he hasn't yet decided what he will do now that he is the proud owner of a dark blue Scania P 420 prime mover, he is keen to see his name painted on the door and running his own business.

“Ever since I was a little kid I wanted my name on the door,” he says. “Finally this is the opportunity to work for myself and reap the rewards of my own labour.”

Whyte says he is keen to use his win to help educate young people about the the road freight industry as a career choice and see a change in public attitude to truck drivers.

After congratulating Whyte on his win, Scania Australia Managing Director Kaj Faerm says the competition will hopefully help lift the profile of the profession.

“Research tells us that skilled and

well-educated drivers can make a major difference to road safety, to saving lives and to having a very good career path in the transport industry,” he says.

Faerm says Australia needs more skilled drivers to make the roads safer and to meet a pressing national shortfall in skilled drivers.

South Australian Stefan Pulmer was declared the runner-up in the inaugural competition, but all finalists deserve to be acknowledged as winners.

While Scania provided the gleaming blue prime mover, the Australian Trucking Association — with support from Shell, Continental Tyres, National Transport Insurance, Freighter and Fleetmark — also backed the YATD competition.

Whyte urges young drivers to enter the next competition, which is due to be staged in 2009. “It's a lot of fun, so I'd tell every young driver to have a go,” he says.