12 minute read
Heavy Vehicle Rest Areas – A national solution is needed
Truck 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.
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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 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
the legislation. There are too many names, symbols, and silhouettes with nonspecific identified legal meanings. The ‘KIS principle’ needs to be applies – Keep It Simple.
“There are also limited fact checking or ‘truth in advertising’ when it comes to the multitude of rest area apps, books and web sites providing false and misleading information on where is the best place to spend the night. Information given by camper hire companies have also been reported to be very misleading and the legality in question.
Ken explains that as many truck drivers and RV drivers travel from state to state and they cannot be expected to stay up to date on all the individual state laws and definitions each time they cross a border.
“All States currently can’t agree on the maximum speed limit when towing a caravan, GVM and GCM upgrades etc., so please do not ask when a national towing licence will be introduced including caravans, horse floats, large boats and builders trailers etc.
“In my opinion, for any state to go it alone would be political and tourism suicide,” Ken states.
“Whilst most RV drivers do the right thing and respect other road users, many social media pages and their comments provide common ‘excuses’ on why they should be allowed to use HVRAs. These include, “I pay my taxes”, to “My vehicle is registered as a truck”, “My motorhome is over 4.5 tonne so I can legally use the heavy vehicle rest areas” and other such deliberate or accidental excuses. While we cannot fix all bad behaviour, with the current legislative situation it is hard to argue against them.
Let us look at some of the problems with individual State and NHVL legislation.
The National Heavy Vehicle Law, (NHVL) defines the following: - ‘Truck means a rigid motor vehicle built mainly as a load carrying vehicle’. This definition would also include every Mazda BT-50, Toyota Hi-Lux, Dodge Ram and many more vehicles/utes on the roads currently towing a caravan. So, we must ask who can then ‘legally’ use a rest area signed ‘TRUCK STOP’, or ‘Truck parking only’ etc.
“Heavy vehicle has the meaning given by Section 6 - For the purposes of this Law - a vehicle is a heavy vehicle if it has a GVM or ATM of more than 4.5t. Also, for the purposes of this Law, a combination that includes a vehicle with a GVM or ATM of more than 4.5t is a heavy vehicle.” “Therefore with this definition of the law - many motorhomes who are well over 4.5t GVM are also included as being able to legally use HVRAs.
“Queensland has just changed some definitions to help solve the problem but does it? Under Transport Infrastructure (State-controlled Roads) and other Legislation Amendment Regulation 2020 Subordinate Legislation 2020 No. 203 there is ‘no’ definition of a truck. So, if this is the case, why do we have signage saying, ‘Truck rest area’, ‘Truck Stop’ etc. when they have no legal meaning?
However: - there is an entry entitled ‘Commercial Truck’ which means a vehicle, other than a general vehicle or fatigueregulated heavy vehicle— (a) with a GVM over 4.5t and designed to carry goods; or (b) with a GVM over 4.5t designed to carry goods and is towing a trailer or a combination of trailers.”
“While this may be a definite step in the right direction, there is still no commercial usage requirement in the definition and only implied by the name. The inclusion of ‘designed to carry goods will help remove many motorhomes etc. from the definition.
“The inclusion of a 4.5t weight GVM also will exclude the BT-50, Hilux and other utes used to pull a caravan. There are however many vehicles of 4.5t designed to carry goods, towing caravans, or 5th wheelers. The simple inclusion of a ‘commercial use’ in the definition will help keep them out also,” suggests Ken.
“Whilst Queensland is certainly on the right track with their changes, not all states are a part of the NHVL so there are differences in legislation from state to state. So, we also need to clearly identify which legislation overrides which regarding the use of rest areas, and ensure uniformity between the states and territories, if we are going to have an enforceable legal pathway.
NOW WE GET TO SIGNAGE
Ken asks, “Does the signage reflect the relevant state legislation and is it consistent and easily understood nationally?” “We have just seen that there is no definition of a ‘Truck’ under one states legislation so what are the definitions in other states and do they match the signage?
Many rest areas simply have a silhouette of a car and truck that leave caravanner's and large motorhomes confused. Many ‘car areas’ are simply not big enough to turn around a large motorhome or car towing a caravan and yet recreational travellers feel condemned if they use the truck areas.
Ken suggests clearer signage that reflects the actual intended use of the rest area in relation to the legislation and calls for a ‘national approach’ to this matter. For example: - “FATIGUE REGULATED VEHICLES ONLY” or “COMMERCIAL HEAVY VEHICLES ONLY”.
“If we want drivers to move to the end of a rest area to allow for long vehicles to park, why do we have the tables and seats placed in the middle of the parking area encouraging cars and RV drivers to park beside the tables blocking long vehicle parking access,” Ken asks?
“Let’s make it easy for people to do the
right thing even if they do not know they are doing it.”
Changes to make clearer, enforceable signage, better designed and additional rest areas will cost money, but with the large number of fatigue related vehicle accidents, money needs to be spent.
“We constantly see road works to have highways bypass the small communities therefore limiting the visual clue, and signage to stop and rest. All new road works need large segregated and clearly signed rest areas for all vehicle types to encourage safer driving practices.
“All drivers need their rest, and we should all agree that we need many more, better signed and designed rest areas to cater for the different vehicles and fastchanging demographic of highway usage while encouraging all to rest when tired by making it easier for all.
I and many others want to fix this problem and remove the accidental or deliberate misinterpretation it creates. However, until we conduct a full audit and compatibility of rest area legislation and signage on a National level, we will still have truck drivers denied their legal and safe rest requirements. For more information on the Truck Friendly Program visit www.truckfriendly.com.au
WA
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VOLUME 26 | NUMBER 11
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FROM THE PUBLISHER
Ithink I say this every year, but can you believe it is nearly Christmas. Well, like many of you I am looking forward to the end of 2020 and it will have to go down as one of the most challenging years I have ever encountered. Who would have thought that we would be hit by a global pandemic and all that ensued from it.
For me, and the magazine, I am ever so grateful to our Federal Government because without the assistance they have given to so many in this country I would not still be in business. I am thankful to live in Western Australia and I just hope that some common sense can return to human kind… the kind of common sense that I see more in the transport industry than anywhere else – where there are good, honest, hardworking people who are genuine. Yes, there are clowns in every circus but being involved with this sector and its people has helped keep me grounded.
So onwards and upwards to 2021. Let’s hope the vaccines bring things back to normality. Here’s to all of you, my readers, all the advertisers, the contributors… I raise my glass of bubbly to you all and wish you every prosperity, happiness and wellbeing for the New Year.
Best,
Karen
CONTENTS
2..............................................Heavy Vehicle Rest Areas – A national solution is needed
6..............................................WA PBS Standards Certification now available 9..............................................Letters to the Editor 10...........................................WA Budget delivers another blow for small business 11..............................................Federal Budget encourages business investment
12 ...........................................The digital road to a Smart Port 14...........................................Record jobs and sales in WA’s resources sector
15 ...........................................Critical road upgrades for the Mid-West 16...........................................Western Roads Federation – WA Transport supports Waste to Wages
18...........................................LRTAWA – Time to secure the future 19...........................................Bullsbrook Intermodal Container Terminal 20.........................................High fatalities from truck crashes 21 ...........................................New animal welfare regulations for WA
Every Month
7...............................................Questions to WA State Government 8..............................................A Fair Go for Owner Drivers 10...........................................Bird’s Eye View 22.........................................HCVC 24.........................................WA Transport History
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