DRIVE NOW December 2021/January 2022

FROM THE
Editor
Governments around Australia are constantly
updating their requirements to ensure the
cleanliness of taxis, hire cars, and rideshare
vehicles, and their drivers due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Presently, every Australian State and territory,
except Tasmania, mandatorily require all drivers
and passengers of a commercial personal
passenger vehicle to wear a mask. Rightly so,
as there is mounting international evidence
that COVID-19 is an airborne or dropletborne
disease, and masks play a critical role in
preventing the spread of this disease.
Moreover, only Victoria, South Australia,
Western Australia and Tasmania have mandated
that drivers must be fully vaccinated (albeit
that for some States this does not come into
effect until the end of January 2022). The
other States should rethink their stance because
the risk of becoming severely unwell due to
non-vaccination against COVID-19 infection is
enormous.
Scientists worldwide are currently reporting
that the risk of becoming infected by touching a
surface has been proven to be substantially low.
The Victorian government updated their
COVID-19 restrictions and pandemic orders on
15 December to include:
• “tour and transport operators, gyms and
creative arts premises such as theatres and
cinemas will not need to clean equipment
between uses” and
• “workplaces exposed to a positive
COVID-19 case no longer need to be deep
cleaned”.
It is unquestionable that Commercial Passenger
Vehicles (CPVs) fall within the category of
“transport operators” and also serve as CPV
drivers’ “workplace”.
Victoria is the ONLY State to mandate that
(CPV) drivers MUST clean frequently touched
areas before and after their passengers. NSW
MUST clean their vehicles at the end of their
shift, and in South Australia, Queensland and
ACT it is only recommended to clean when the
shift ends.
Not only are the Victorian orders over-cautious
in comparison to the other States, but, for now,
the Victorian regulator has not announced
any changes to the cleaning of frequent
touchpoints.
Imagine how much time and money would be
saved by only cleaning the CPV at the end of
each shift.
Toni Peters
6 December 2021/January 2022