Two truck drivers have been hit with hefty penalties after Safe-T-Cam catches them breaking fatigue laws
April 13, 2011
Two truck drivers have been hit with hefty penalties after Safe-T-Cam devices in South Australia uncovered serious fatigue management breaches.
Western Australia man Keith Gosling was convicted of four counts of exceeding permitted work hours in a 24-hour period and fined $4,472.
He was found guilty of making a false entry in his work diary. The Holden Hill Magistrates Court slapped the veteran driver with an 18-month suspended prison sentence and put him on a good behaviour bond.
It follows the February conviction of Perth truck driver Kevin Anderson, 46, on seven counts of making a false entry in a work diary and one charge of exceeding permitted work hours during a 24-hour period.
He was fined $3000 and given a suspended five-month prison sentence.
Gosling’s and Anderson’s offences were detected by officers from the Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure (DTEI) monitoring the Safe-T-Cams.
DTEI’s director of transport safety regulation, Brian Hemming, says the prosecution and suspended prison terms reiterate the seriousness of fatigued drivers on the roads.
“The Safe-T-Cam is in place to monitor and deter fatigued or speeding heavy vehicle drivers from our roads,” Hemming says.
“These findings support road safety measures implemented by DTEI to remove these fatigued drivers, lower the risk of road crashes and to ensure the roads are safer for all motorists.”
Safe-T-Cam is a network of strategically placed cameras on major arterial roads that record, verify and store information on heavy vehicle movements in South Australia and NSW.
The devices measure a vehicle’s speed between two points to determine if the driver has broken speed limits and rest requirements under fatigue management laws.