NSW RMS targeting trucks involved in the Sydney construction boom
A higher risk trucking sector currently worrying NSW authorities is construction truck and dogs in the Sydney metropolitan area.
This concern has been expressed by Brett Patterson, statewide operations manager with NSW Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).
Patterson was a keynote speaker at this year’s Technical and Maintenance Conference in Melbourne, organised by the Australian Trucking Association and Australian Road Transport Suppliers Association.
Sydney is in the grip of a construction boom worth many tens of billions of dollars, and Patterson rattled off some of the major projects involved.
“NorthConnex (road); WestConnex (road), Sydney Metro (rail), we’re running trams down the middle of George Street (in the CBD); another harbour tunnel crossing; through to the numerous buildings going up in the Sydney city, Parramatta, apartment blocks and residential areas,” he told the TMC.
“So we’re seeing a lot more construction going on, so we’re seeing a lot more truck and dogs tipper type vehicles running around, certainly in the Sydney metropolitan area.”
Owner//Driver has heard before of clunkers coming down from Queensland to get involved in the Sydney construction transport boom. Patterson referred to another source of vehicles which are a maintenance challenge: lots of line-haul prime movers which are coming off the highways.
“So they have done a million miles-plus and then (operators) put on a tipper body,” he says.
By the way these retired highway rigs have always been easy to spot because unlike most new tipper prime movers on urban work, the former long distance trucks have sleeper cabs.
Of the Sydney truck and dog sector overall Patterson says: “To look at these vehicles we have run some targeted compliance campaigns with the NSW Police.”
He says over the course of 22 operations, more than one third had non-compliant speed limiters; 6 per cent received a mass breach; 4 per cent had a major defect; and one quarter were issued with some type of offence.
“So looking at the truck and dog sector, there’s a high rate of non-compliance,” Patterson says.
“So we’ll work with them to undertake some culture change and education.”
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