Focus
HEAVY VEHICLE REST AREAS – A national solution is needed
T
ruck drivers throughout Australia have for many years been complaining about recreational vehicles, including, caravans, motorhomes, backpacker vans and cars using the designated ‘heavy vehicle rest areas’ (HVRA’s) and ‘truck stops’,” advises Ken Wilson manager of the Truck Friendly Caravan Road Safety Program. Fatigue regulated truck drivers must by law stop and rest at regular intervals. Many company owned trucks are fitted with electronic monitoring to help ensure their drivers abide by these laws and the location of the truck is known at any point in time. Rest areas have been placed at regular intervals along the highways so all drivers have a safe place to stop and rest. Many, but not enough, are designed for heavy commercial vehicles or fatigue regulated vehicles only. Many truck drivers may have been driving the same routes for years and use the same rest areas on a regular basis and for that reason may assume that it is a ‘Truck Stop’, - but what does the signage on that area actually say? “With COVID-19 there is an increase in
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WATM • December 2020
the number of recreational vehicles on the highways and with the lack of Government or industry funding for caravan road safety programs like the privately funded Truck Friendly Caravan Road Safety Program, the problem has been allowed to get to boiling point and we now have an unhealthy ‘us and them’ mentality between the two road user groups,” says Ken. “Truck drivers report that they arrive at a heavy vehicle rest area at 2am and often find it filled with RV’s leaving them nowhere to park a B-Double. They then feel forced to drive on, stretching their safe and legal driving hours to the limit or beyond. Truck drivers advise that some have been woken from their compulsory rest by RV drivers and asked to turn off their refrigeration units as the RV driver finds it hard to sleep with the noise. “This attitude, and lack of understanding, helps fuel anxiety and frustration in all drivers which often is reflected in dangerous and aggressive driving behaviours by some,” says Ken. “There are good and bad drivers in all vehicle types. Most drivers want to, and do, do the right thing. There is also a
group in all vehicle classes that either are plain ignorant, or do not care about the safety of other drivers and those who are misinformed or uneducated. We cannot fix stupid with a law. “The Queensland Government Transport Minister has recently announced changes commencing September 2020 to help fix the problem. I hope they pave the way to a national solution, and am assuming these changes will relate to the ‘legal definitions’. Truck Friendly has been continually active in helping educate caravanner’s and motorhome drivers on the correct use of truck stops and HVRA’s and fully supports leaving the designated areas for the fatigue regulated vehicle driver’s exclusive use. So, what is the real problem? “We all know the intention of the rest areas and the laws are to allow fatigue regulated drivers a safe place to rest, but Governments on all levels have left large grey areas that will make it difficult to police and enforce intended usage”, says Ken. “The signage is ambiguous, nonconsistent interstate and within the same states, non-specific and does not refer to
