An Australian truck driver is facing harsh criticism after posting a video of himself sitting in the passenger seat of his moving semi truck.
The video was initially posted to a private Facebook group but was leaked to the public on August 22nd by an angry member.
“It’s hard enough in this industry for people like my father and others without people doing stupid s**t like this,” he said.
In the clip, the unnamed driver can be seen resting his feet on the dashboard while sitting in the passenger seat as the truck barrels down an empty stretch of road. Officials say the truck was likely in cruise control, and suspect that the driver rigged a contraption from the dashboard, holding the steering wheel in place.
“He’s a bit shy … Yeah mate, we’re the best two-up team. Yeah you’re dead bloody right,” the truck driver can be heard saying to no one in the 50-second long video, seemingly making a joke about the skillset of his nonexistent team driver.
“Keeping it on the road nice and steady, aren’t you buddy?” the driver continues.
“We go good. We’re gonna drive all day and all night, and all day and all night, hey Riggsy? What do you reckon?”
Both members of the private Facebook group and those who viewed the footage after it was leaked responded with outrage and disbelief over the driver’s actions.
“It’s not representative of the industry at all and it’s just mind numbingly stupid,” said Executive Officer of the South Australian Road Transport Association, Steve Shearer, who claimed that the clip is the most “absurd” footage he’s seen in all of his 26 years in trucking.
“For the driver to be sitting in the passengers seat instead of behind the steering wheel in control of the truck, it’s gobsmacking, it makes you wonder whether it’s a bit of a trick with video and not actually real.”
“Our industry does not need this sort of behavior because all it does is add to the concern of trucks on the road when in fact we are an incredibly safe industry,” he continued.
“I know a hell of a lot of people in the industry, from drivers through to owners and I don’t know anybody in the industry who would think it was funny or ok, they would all be horrified,” he told Yahoo News.
Attempts have been made to contact the driver’s employer, but the company has declined to comment.
Police are currently investigating the video and driver, who claims that the footage was recorded on a private road. He is still employed with the company, but is no longer in a driving position.