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Rest stop catch-up

We’re starting behind the eight-ball in the campaign for new, tree-lined rest stops along our highways

 

Last month I finished with my list of things to do for 2019. I have started on the rest areas with a document due out, the green reflector posters have started going up along the Newell and the green reflector bays will be included in the Traveller Information Exchange listings with thanks to Transport Certification Australia.

I also mentioned road signs and the reflections from them. Many of you have good lights now, and HID and LED has changed how we see at night on the road. The new Narva LED driving lights I have fitted are the best I have ever used. When I first tried the HIDS with spots instead of spreads, I found the concentration of the brilliant white light was fantastic for long distance, but around corners and there’s a large road sign, the reflection is too strong and that is why I had tinted covers just to take the edge off.

My understanding from a mate who spent years writing to VicRoads about a host of road safety issues is that all road signs should be angled at 5 degrees away from square, so you can get the light to reflect, “seeing” the sign, but not bouncing directly back at you. Even with good halogen spot lights it was an issue, but now it has increased and with good lights you can get more glare from your own than you can from others.

Perhaps no one else has raised the issue but it seems to me more and more signs are incorrectly aligned. While I have a real problem with fog lights when they are illegally used, particularly in the rain when the glare off the road makes them a hazard, any glare will contribute to night time driving fatigue. Do you find it a problem, or not?

 

Starting from behind

I aim to contact each state with a list of issues, ask what their rules are and what they will do to ensure future compliance. We have to comply, why not them? Getting roads fixed and rest areas built, let alone improved and or suited to our needs, seems to be harder than it ever has.

With the new rest area design guidelines – and I thank the National Transport Commission for going ahead to have the old 2005 version updated – we now have a document to use to get better facilities.

Part of the problem before was that there was nothing current to guide someone who had to design a rest area for us. They may well have tackled the job with the best of intent, but if they were never going to sleep in one, would it be so important to them? Not likely.

It is good to see the Australian Trucking Association and NatRoad getting behind the push for more and better rest areas now. But I wish they had done it years ago and perhaps we would not be so far behind.

It could take years to fix the problem as we have some sites that do not provide what we need. We have areas that are so short of truck bays that some drivers are forced to drive on tired until they find a place. With little impetus up until now, we have a long way to go to catch up.

Getting funding, finding suitable land and having it approved, designs approved and implemented for one will not happen overnight, so what if we do get support for a number of rest areas? How long will it take to have them built? Yes, I can push the green reflector barrow as an interim, but that in itself does not solve the shortage now.

 

Stockpile sites

We also need to do work with road authorities to get something in place, to both recognise and allow us to use stockpile sites where we have a current shortage. This could well be the best way to help us in the short term.

I have been told some road authorities are a bit precious about us using their stockpile sites, but what harm can we do? Please explain? The best thing about many of them is that they have shade, something criminally missing from most truck rest areas. When they cut them out to the tree line they leave the trees close to the edge, whereas in most truck bays they cut all the trees down and leave us with nothing.

I have asked for trees to be planted at some sites, I have asked for a shade sail to be considered and one fellow said it would cost too much. Why, I asked? Well a 25 metre shade sail would cost a fortune. Bugger the trailers; we only want one of about 5 metres to allow for the movement of the sun and to cover the truck cab.

There are a few good examples, Tycannah Creek south of Moree has good shade from trees planted years ago but it is a rarity. Many others had they had trees planted years ago and would now have excellent shade. But trees take years to grow, as we know, and if away from any town they say the cost to plant and water and maintain them till they grow is prohibitive.

So where do you need a truck rest area or more capacity? If you know a place, let someone know so we do get what we need and where.

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