The RACV has called upon Victoria’s political leaders to extend the ban on trucks in the right hand lane of freeways.
RACV public policy general manager Brian Negus has expressed disappointment at the fact that neither major political party has committed to extending the ban on trucks in the right hand lane of freeways ahead of this week’s state election.
“This is a major community issue and there’s no excuse for either party to ignore putting in place a ban that could be very quickly implemented for the safety of all Victorians,” RACV public policy general manager Brian Negus says.
Truck exclusion lanes apply to trucks weighing 4.5 tonnes or more, and have been in effect on some sections of road on the Princes and Eastern freeways since 2010. According to VicRoads the ban was introduced to improve safety and encourage better road sharing.
“These truck restrictions have been in place on the Princes Freeway to and from Geelong and on the Eastern Freeway for some years now and they are working. There has been improvement in traffic flow and road safety on both of these freeways,” Negus adds.
The RACV has pushed for truck exclusion lanes since before the original ban, and is in favour of extending it to include all freeways with three or more lanes in each direction.
“Every driver who uses the Monash Freeway knows it can be a nightmare. RACV has had years of complaints from our members about monster trucks tailgating them.”
However, a VicRoads traffic modelling study found that it would be unsuitable for truck exclusion lanes to be extended to include the Monash freeway.
“Trucks are not banned from the right hand lane of the Monash Freeway because traffic modelling of the restrictions has found that it would result in increased travel times and additional congestion. This is due to the high proportion of trucks compared to cars and the short distances between interchanges on the Monash Freeway,” VicRoads network policy director Andrew Wall says.
Victorian Transport Association (VTA) CEO Peter Anderson says that the success of the current truck exclusion lanes won’t necessarily translate to all freeways.
“The current trial in place is based upon a road that has very few ingress and egress points which allows a truck to travel freely and to create space between it and the vehicle in front.
“That’s the major issue; it will encourage congestion if the road isn’t specifically designed for the movement of trucks in a free manner along the freeway,” Anderson says.
A survey conducted on RACV’s car club members around the time of the original ban found that 83 per cent were in support of the legislation.