Well, another year has passed since my last column where I wrote about the goings on at Port Botany and the issues facing drivers and parking especially for Dangerous Goods (DG) vehicle drivers.
If caught out due to inevitable delays, they may find themselves deciding to either put up with being woken by security guards, just doing what they have been told to do by their employer during their legally required rest break, or choosing to just drive to get out of the Port and get to the nearest safe parking area which could be more than an hour or more away. Get caught or intercepted for whatever reason and “that’s a severe breach son.”
Officially, nothing much has changed. However, with the excellent cooperation of Transport for NSW there has been progress, and the end is in sight although still very dim.
Again, with the excellent support of Transport for NSW a parking area for DG vehicles has been nominated and the appropriate legislation applied to overcome issues with DG licencing of the facility and changes or amendments to the original planning and development applications for the facility.
The decision is now with what is called State Planning (bureaucrats who think they are lawyers). Although residing in very large offices, in an even larger building in Castlereagh Street in Sydney, State Planning doesn’t seem to have any sense of urgency to rubber stamp the decisions and give approval for the project to move on, therefore finishing this episode and giving drivers a safe place to park if required within the Port Botany precinct.
As a Board Member of the NRFA I have attended and spoken at meetings including the NSW Roads Ministers’ Round Table on Rest areas for Heavy Vehicle within Sydney. I am convinced the bureaucrats truly do not understand the complexity of the problems confronted by drivers of heavy vehicles. I have tried in vain to explain that what we see on our roads and streets are only the symptoms of a far larger problem.
We must ask ourselves. Why are local drivers choosing to leave their trucks parked overnight along streets and roadways or in industrial areas or known heavy vehicle rest areas or commercial premises?
It is just bloody simple really. Due to the high cost of land anywhere within the Sydney area businesses who depend on, or own their own, transport don’t want to pay for areas required to park their vehicles (parking doesn’t pay.
Not only for their fleets of heavy vehicles that service the business but even for their employees who nowadays have to park on the street, leaving less room for the long distance driver who arrives during the night looking for somewhere to park up and wait for either the business to open or their timeslot.
Simple changes or amendments to legislation could be easily made that would require businesses to provide parking for their employees and for the foreseen vehicles that service their businesses. This should also affect local councils and State bodies who approve industrial developments.
As an industry we need to educate to facilitate changes which affect us.
I have also raised the issues with the grey nomads who think it’s okay to park in Heavy Vehicle rest areas. When you look seriously at the problem, it comes again down to education which leads to simple changes to signage which could overcome problems.
Let us take Harrold and Marg who are enjoying their retirement travelling the roads of our great country. They are looking to pull up for the night during the early evening before the sun goes down.
They see a nice area and the sign says Rest Area and there really is nobody there. So, they park the BT50 and Viscount smack in the middle. Now we all know what happens later during the night when the heavy vehicle drivers start arriving tired and looking for somewhere to park up.
As I have suggested maybe some simple changes to the signage might help. Instead of just rest area, let’s change it to Heavy Vehicle Rest Area. Let us show Harrold and Marg that although big, a BT50 and dual axle Viscount doesn’t really cut it.
As an industry we must demand changes and education of those that affect us and our ability to safely navigate our road networks and deliver the goods and commodities that the community demands.
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